LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. # 



f> " — i 

I UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, f 




HENRY AND ANTONIO, 



OR 



THE PROSELYTES 

OF THE 

ROMISH AND EVANGELICAL 
CHURCHES; 

TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN 

f .1 U -44W) . 1/ OF 



■Ji^M^i 



C. G. BRETSCHNEIDER, D. D., &c. &c. 

General Superintendent at Gotha, 



WITH 



ADDITIONAL NOTES, 



BY 



A MINISTER OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH. 



BALTIMOREt 



PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY LUCAS & DEAVER, 
19, South Calvert Street. 

1834. 









Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1S34, by 
James Lucas and E. K. Deaver, in the Clerk's Office of the 
District Court of Maryland. 



LC Control Number 




t:mp96 028019 



TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 



The Romish controversy has already excited a considera- 
ble interest in this country, and the most careless observer 
of the times, sees that it is destined before long to engage 
still more of the public attention. It is acknowledged on 
all sides that the American church until a few years ago, 
was asleep on this very important subject, and permitted 
the most subtle enemy of gospel truth to disseminate his 
poison unresisted. There is reason to fear, that there 
are yet many Protestant churches and ministers who are in- 
different to the wily efforts of popery, and see no danger to 
be apprehended from the extraordinary exertions now ma- 
king by the emissaries of the pope, to diffuse their perni- 
cious principles throughout our country. They beleive that 
popery has been essentially changed since the reformation ; 
that in Europe its more rugged and odious features have 
been softened down, and that in the United States it is still 
less repulsive than in Europe. It need scarcely be said that 
such opinions evince a lamentable ignorance of the history 
and character of popery. Romanists themselves regard it as 
an insult to their church, to say that her doctrines have in the 
least degree been modified since the council of Trent. — 
They are always the same and unchangeable, and if they 
were as universally diffused and believed in the United 



jy TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 

States as in popish countries, the same corrupt state of 
morals would exist among us, which now prevails to such a 
lamentable extent in them. 

It is believed that the American public are ready for 
works on this subject. There have been some very excel- 
lent books relating to this controversy already published, and 
very lately, it has been very vigorously prosecuted in the 
public papers. But it is thought that all this has only cre- 
ated a desire to read more. 

The form of the following work is peculiar, and on that 
account particularly interesting. It combines the attraction 
of romance and the power of argument. It is perhaps 
best designed for those who have neither time nor inclina- 
tion to read large and learned works on the subject, and 
that is a very numerous class of readers in this country. It 
is very popular in Germany, having reached the fourth edi- 
tion in 1831. 

To theologians it is not necessary to say any thing in fa- 
vor of the author as a theological and controversial writer. 
Though not decidedly with the orthodox party of Germany, 
yet his opponents give him credit for fairness in controversy, 
elegance and clearness of style, and integrity of character. 
The translator does not wish it to be understood that he 
agrees with him in every sentiment contained even in this 
little volume, but those which are in the least objectionable, 
do not relate to fundamental gospel truth, and about that 
every reader is permitted to think as he pleases. 

Most of the quotations from the scriptures in the original 
volume are from Van Ess's translation. Van Ess (Leander) 
was a Catholic priest, and since 1813, professor extraordinary 
of theology and preacher at Marburg, who has distinguished 
himself by his translation of the New Testament. The 
pope has lately prohibited this version, but it is still exten- 



TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. ^ 

sively circulated in defiance of the papal interdiction, and 
exerts great influence upon the German Catholics. Van 
Ess has also published several works in favour of the gene- 
ral and free use of the scriptures by the laity, containing 
copious extracts from the fathers, and Catholic writers, sub- 
stantiating his opinions. It will be seen by all readers why 
the quotations were made from that version, rather than 
from Luther's, and the reason will be considered good. I 
had once determined to translate from Van Ess's version 
for the sake of fairness, but on comparing his with the one 
in common use among us, I found that they do not differ 
in one single idea of importance, and therefore I concluded 
to adhere to the authorized version. The Romanist cannot 
complain of this, for he will find Van Ess's testament as de- 
cidedly against the errors of his church as our English Bible. 

THE TRANSLATOR. 
Baltimore, September 1, 1834. 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 



The object of this little work will best appear from its 
contents. — It is not intended as an attack but a defence, 
and is only polemical in cases, where the defence could not 
be conducted in any other manner, than by turning the 
weapons of the opponent against himself. It is principally 
conducted by a comparison of the declarations of Jesus 
and the apostles with the doctrines and ceremonies, which 
the Romish jriesthood established as universally binding at 
the council of Trent and in the Romish Catechism. This 
catechism and the decrees of that council, being the prin- 
cipal creeds of the Romish church, are frequently quoted, 
so that the objection might not be made, that the doctrines 
of that church were misrepresented. For the benefit of the 
unlearned reader it is here observed, that the council of 
Trent was held, with some interruption, in the years 1545 
to 1563, — that the Romish priests assembled there made up, 
as they thought, for what the Evangelical church had done 
in abolishing certain doctrines and ceremonies, which were 
gross abuses and wanted public confirmation, by widening 
the line of demarcation between them and the Evangelical 
church, and pronouncing a decree of eternal excommunica- 
tion against her. The Romish Catechism was first prepared 
in Rome by order of pope Pius V. in 1566, it was after- 



vJii AUTHOR »S PREFACE. 

wards frequently published, in which many things that were 
altogether passed over at Trent or but slightly touched, 
were more fully established. To set this gospel of Rome 
beside the gospel of Jesus, was the principal object of this 
work, and hence only a subordinate place was given to the 
argument from history. 

The defence of the gospel of Jesus against the gospel 
of Rome is fully justified in the frequent assaults made upon 
the former. The Evangelical church sees herself continu- 
ally attacked in books, pamphlets and periodicals in France 
as well as in Germany. It is not only obscure scribblers, 
who might be despised, because they are not read, that pre- 
fer these ceaseless accusations, but periodicals join the 
clamor, which, on account of other circumstances, find their 
way into the reading rooms of the higher classes of society, 
and fling old and new charges against the Evangelical church 
like fire rockets, into places where they soonest ignite, and 
when ignited, soonest occasion mischief. The Jesuits have 
also been revived — the order whose especial aim it is to 
oppose and extirpate the Evangelical church; they op- 
erate in various ways, they assume various forms, they 
establish their posts, send out their agents, and insidiously 
try to gain influence among the higher classes. The work 
of proselyting is zealously and publicly prosecuted and not 
without success. Many are gained by dishonorable means, 
and barter the gospel of Jesus for that of Rome, because 
they love the world and the praise of men more than God 
and the truth. Many are won by sophistry and fraud, by 
specious argument which they are too ignorant to refute, 
and by unfounded accusations are filled with mistrust 
against Evangelical Christianity. Duty demands of every 
one who is not indifferent to Evangelical truth, to extend a 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE. JX 

guiding hand to such, to undeceive the deceived, and es- 
tablish the wavering. Silence in season, is laudable ; out 
of season, culpable; but silence, when duty commands us 
to speak, when the truth calls upon her friends to defend 
her, when many a troubled and wavering heart longs after 
light and strength, — is wicked. Who are more loudly 
called upon to speak on this subject, than those whose of- 
ficial duty it is publicly to acknowledge, honor and defend 
the truth? 

What the author wishes and hopes for both churches, is 
expressed at the conclusion. May it be fulfilled! He 
has thought that it would be of some service if a book 
like this, were put into the hands of young persons about 
to attach themselves to the church, that it might secure 
them against the proselyting schemes that are now so 
insidiously and industriously prosecuted. B* 

Gotha, April 7, 1826, 



RECOMMENDATIONS. 



1 have had an opportunity of perusing some detached parts of a work 
in manuscript, entitled, '■^ Henry and Antonio, or the Proselytes of the Ro- 
mish and Evangelical Churches, by C. G. Bretschneider, D. D., &c. &c., 
translated from the German by a Minister of the Lutheran Church." 
Although my engagements allowed me only a slight and cursory ex- 
amination of a few parts, it was quite sufficient to convince me that 
the work is worthy of the distinguished author, and adapted to be ex- 
tensively useful. Its structure is eminently fitted to render it interest- 
ing to many readers who could scarcely be prevailed upon tog-o through 
a volume of similar size written on almost any other plan. I shall 
be greatly disappointed if it should not prove more than usually ac- 
ceptable to the religious public. Its learning; its vivacity; its dramatic 
form; and its admirable spirit cannot fail of attracting much attention. 

SAMUEL MILLER, D. D. 

Professor of Church History and Ecclesiastical Polity 

ill the Theological Seminary, Princeton, 
Princeton, March 10, 1834. 

Having read a large portion of the above mentioned work, I feel 
prepared to concur fully and cordially with the opinion expressed by 
Dr. Miller of its merits. 

C. HODGE, D. D. 
Prof essor of Biblical Literature, Sfc. Sfc. ^c. 
Princeton, March 10, 1834. 



Bretschneider's Heikrich and Antonio is an able exhibition of the 
points in dispute between Romanists and Protestants, and a satisfactory 
refutation of the principles of the former. The argument is conducted 
in a form so attractive that it is adapted to interest the general reader, 
and is fortified by statements which are suitable to the learned. In 
Germany it has been very popular, and favorably noticed in some of 
the best journals. 



Xii RECOMMENDATIONS. 

The translator has accomplished a work which cannot fail to be fa- 
vorably received by Protestants in the United States, particularly at 
the present time. That the translation has been made with ability 
cannot, in my judgment, be doubted — the translator being well ac- 
quainted with the language of the original, and master of his own. 

C, P. KRAUTH, 
Professor of Biblical Literature and Eccl. ITist. in the Theological Seminary 

of the General Synod of the Ev. Luth. Church in the U, S. 
Gettysburg, March 5, 1834, 



That the publication of works treating the question between Catho- 
lics and Protestants, is called for at present, will be admitted by all 
conversant with the history of our times. But it is to be desired that 
the selection of them be judicious. The aXriOeveiv ev ayatrrt of the Apostle 
(Eph. iv. 15.) ought not to be lost sight of. Books discussing the ques- 
tion in a tone of personal bitterness and empty invective, will only 
injure the cause of religion. This being my view, I congratulate you, 
dear brother, on the selection of "Henry and Antonio" for translation. 
That work deserves to be read. Bretshneider understands his subject, 
and treats it in the tone and spirit of a man who wishes to serve the 
cause of truth. Among his numerous works I know of none better cal- 
culated to benefit the general reader than this. May it find as large a 
circle of intelligent readers in this country, as it found from the date of 
its first appearance, and still finds, in the country in which it was 
written. CH. R. DEMME, D. D. 

Pastor of Zion's Church, Philadelphia. 

Philadelphia, March 12, 1834. 



Mw York, March 7, 1834. 
We have examined with as much attention as our leisure allowed, 
the manuscript of a work entitled, ^'Henry and Antonio, or the Proselytes 
of the Romish and Evangelical Churches, translated from the German of C. 
G. Bretschneider, D. D. &c. &c., by a Minister of the Lutheran Church," 
and it gives us great pleasure to say, that we think it an excellent and 
timely production. The name of the author alone, as a scholar is sufficient 
security to the public that the work is able, and though on some topics 
we should be indisposed to recommend his opinions, in the present case 
he is essentially orthodox, and eminently good. The discussion is so 
conducted as to be particularly adapted to general use, and cannot fail 
in doing extensive service to the cause of truth at the present crisis. 
While many able works have been g-iven to the public on the Romish 
controversy, they have been frequently wanting in vivacity and simpli- 
city, and neither attract nor instruct the mass of readers. "Henry and 
Antonio" supplies we think, a great desideratum in these respects. 



RECOMMENDATIONS. xjij 

We have not examined the work in the original, but from the transla- 
tor's standing as a scholar, and his familiarity with the tongue of Luther, 
we cannot doubt that he has done justice to the original. 

JOHN BRECKINRIDGE. 
GARDINER SPRING, D.D. 
Pastor of the Brick Presbyterian Church, J^. York. 

G. W. MUSGRAVE, 

Pastor of the Third Presbyterian Church, Baltimore. 
R. J. BRECKINRIDGE, 

Pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, Baltimore. 

BENJAMIN KURTZ, 

Editor of the Lutheran Observer, Bait. 



Baltimore, September 10, 1834. 
I have read with great delight the manuscript of a work entitled, 
"Henry and Antonio," &c. The author shows not only great ability, 
but an intimate acquaintance with the subject which the narrative 
is intended to illustrate. The controversy between Protestants and 
Papists does not, perhaps, admit of any new arguments — but this little 
volume aflfords a compendious view of the subject, while the colloquial 
form of the narrative will awaken, and keep alive the interest of all 
classes of readers. The design is happily conceived, and the execu- 
tion is every way worthy the design. THOS. E. BOND, M. D. 

Minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Chapter I. Henry and his education, _ - _ 13 

Chapter II. His residence at Rome, and conversion to the 
Romish Church, ------- 18 

Chapter III. His journey towards home — Antonio— God 
and the heretics — The true christian, - _ . 24 

Chapter IV. Henry's arrival at home — The privilege of 
changing our faith, ------- 35 

Chapter V. Going to church — The Latin Liturgy, - 43 

Chapter VI. The relation of the Romish church to the de- 
sign of Christianity — The relation of the propitiatory sacra- 
ments to christian virtue — Priestly absolution, John xx. 
23; Matt, xviii. 18, - - - ^ - - - 49 

Chapter VII. Mixed marriage — The condemnation of 
heretics — "What is demanded to obtain eternal life, - 62 

Chapter VIII. Antonio — Matt. xix. 16 — 19 — Influence of 
the Catholic sacraments in composing and comforting the 
mind, ---- 70 

Chapter IX. The only true Catholic and apostolic church 
and her popes, ------- 82 

Chapter X. Antonio and Matt. ch. 23 — The acknowledg- 
ment, --------- 105 

Chapter XI. Tradition and the infallibility of the church, 123 

Chapter XII. The necessity of an infallible judge to unity 
of faith — The freedom of opinion among Protestants, - 132 

Chapter XIII. The priesthood and consecration, - 152 



Xvi CONTENTS. 

Chapter XIV. The Romish and Evangelical worship— 
The Mass, ----_-__ 163 

Chapter XV. Antonio and Purgatory, _ _ _ 174 

Chapter XVI. The saints and martyrs, - - - 179 

Chapter XVII. The morality of the Romish church — 
Christian perfection — Indulgence and good works, - 188 

Chapter XVIII. Continuation — Absolution from oaths — 
The Jesuits — The Popes — Marriage — Blind obedience — 
The government, ------- 196 

Chapter XIX. The cup in the sacrament— extreme unc- 
tion — Antonio's resolution, ----- 206 

Chapter XX. Henry in a dilemma — A man can be a good 
christian as a Catholic, ------ 213 

Chapter XXI. Henry and Antonio — Letters of recommen- 
dation—End. -------- 220 

Appendix. ---------237 



HENRY AND ANTONIO 



OR THE 



PROSELYTES OF THE ROMISH AND EVANGELICAL 
CHURCHES. 



CHAPTER I. 

HENRY AND HIS EDUCATION. 

Henry, the only son of a wealthy and respectable mer- 
chant in L in Saxony, had travelled to Italy to study in 

the schools of celebrated painters. His return to his pa- 
ternal home was expected with the most intense anxiety by 
his parents, and his sister Wilhelmina, who had just then 
entered into a matrimonial enffaorement. But with this feel- 
ing of joy at seeing him who had now been absent three 
years, there was mingled an emotion of deep solicitude, 
yea, of melancholy foreboding, which diminished in the fa- 
ther's heart at least, all the pleasure of the anticipated 



meeting. 



Henry had become a Papist in Rome, and had communi- 
cated it to his parents only a short time before his arrival. 
This inconsiderate step deeply pained the strictly evangel- 
ical father, who firmly convinced of the superior advantages 
of his own church, regarded the Romish communion in a 
very unfavorable light. He was mortified that his only son 
had attached himself to a church, which in his view, was 
totally unsupported by the bible. 
2 



14 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

The family had as yet kept the apostacy of the son a se- 
cret; but it was very often the unpleasant subject of their 
private conversation. Henry had informed them that he had 
become a Romanist from conviction; he had earnestly en- 
treated them not to consider him as one of those unworthy 
proselytes, who change their faith as they do their garments, 
for the sake of a benefice, or a pension, or an advantageous 
marriage; but all this did not mitigate the grief of the fa- 
ther, who painfully felt, that now a great partition wall se- 
parated him from the affections of his son. "How can Hen- 
ry — he said in deep mortification — have any confidence in 
us now; how can he any longer respect us, when according 
to the principles of his church he must look upon us as he- 
retics, as children of the devil, and devoted to eternal de- 
struction? For my part, I know not how I could trust or 
esteem those, of whom I believed that they were full of soul 
destroying errors, that they were wholly under the influence 
of satan, and that they were devoted by God to everlasting 
damnation ! — and he vehemently added — "if he has professed 
the Jesuitical faith and cursed father and mother and teacher, 
because they educated him in heresy — 0, then I never wish 
to see my child again!" 

"That, replied the mother with earnestness, that Henry 
has certainly not done. I know my son too well ! What ? 
to curse the mother who bare and nourished him — that would 
be too awful ! — that my son has not done! He has assured- 
ly not forgotten that passage of scripture, (Prov. xx. 20.) 
'Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be 
put out in obscure darkness.' " 

''I can myself scarcely believe any thing so bad of him,' 
said the father. 

"And I, said Wilhelmina — cannot believe that the Ro- 
mish church demands any thing so unchristian of her 
proselytes," 

"We should really think so, added the father — But a 
church which condemns and curses us all without distinc- 
tian as heretics, acts at least consistently, when she demands 



OR THE PROSELYTES. X5 

of her proselytes, not to exempt their friends and relatives 
from this malediction. Certain it is, that the Jesuits at least, 
have required such malediction of the proselytes which 
they have made, as was a short time ago proved by the pub- 
lication of such confessions, and an examination of then 
genuineness.* But that other Romish priests of a better 
character than the Jesuits, do the same, or that it is a gen- 
eral rule, I do not believe. But yet every Romish confes- 
sion of faith v;hich the proselytes must adopt, may contain 
something by which they must declare themselves free from 
the spiritual supervision and communion of their parents. 

At least the confession which Charles B adopted in 

Vienna in ]812, when he became a convert to the Romish 
faith, contained these express words : "I swear never to fall 
back again into the errors which I have abjured, and never 
to aiford any aid, counsel, favor or relief to any who hold 
these errors."' How could Henry, if he had also taken this 
oath, fisel any esteem for his heretical parents, or afford them 
aid, favor or relief? — alas! — I have lost my son — lost him 
forever." 

*The principal work on this subject is, Authentic history of the so 
called profession Fidei Tridentinae, and several other Roman Catholic 
confessions of faith, by G. C. F. Mohnike, Greifswalde, 1822, Germa- 
ny. In the confession of faith which was adopted in Hungary by pros- 
elytes to the Romish church, and which originated among the Jesuits, 
it is said towards the end — "We confess that the Romish doctrine is 
the catholic, pure, divine, saving, old and true doctrine, but the Protes- 
tant is false, erroneous, blasphemous, accursed, heretical, damning, se- 
ditious, ungodly, &c. — Hence we curse (maledictos pronuntiamus) our 
parents, who educated us in the heretical faith ; we curse also those, 
who raised in our minds any doubts of the Roman Catholic faith. We 
curse the books which we have read, and which contain those hereti- 
cal and blasphemous doctrines. We curse also all the works we read, 
whilst we lived in the heretical faith, that we may not be answerable 
for them before God at the last day. We moreover swear, as 
long as a drop of blood runs in our veins, to pursue that accursed pro- 
testant faith, in every way, secretly and openly, with force and fraud, 
(clam et aperte, violenter el fraudulenter) with word and deed, yea, 
even with the sword." See Mohnike, p. 9 1. 



16 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

The tears of the mother, which now began to flow, and 
with which Wilhelmina mingled hers, interrupted the con- 
versation, and were, as usual, the beginning of a long, but 
melancholy silence, during which nothing was heard but the 
sighs of the mother, and the footsteps of the deeply excited 
father, who, under great agitation hastily traversed the room. 
*'Hovv was it possible, he thought to himself, that Henry as 
a well instructed Protestant christian, could suffer himself to 
be blinded by such fallacies! What poison must they not 
have secretly administered to him ! — By what religious le- 
gerdemain must they not have deceived him!" 

What appeared inexplicable to the father, is very easily 
solved. Henry was instructed in his boyhood by an ortho- 
dox Lutheran minister. He was soon able to recite the 
whole catechism by heart, and his father believed him to be 
well grounded in the oithodox system of faith. But in his 
instructions on christian duties, the teacher did not go be- 
yond the ten commandments. Of the discourses of Christ and 
his doctrines as taught by the apostles, Henry knew little more 
than he had learned from the passages quoted in his cate- 
chism. He received no instruction in the history of the 
christian church, and excepting a very few points, he did 
not know the difference between the Evangelical and Ro- 
mish confessions of faith. His instructor very inconsider- 
ately taught him to believe that the duty of love which 
we owe to the persons of heretics extended even to their 
errors, and maintained that it was very intolerant to give 
ourselves any trouble about the differences between the Pro- 
testants and Romanists ; and that the Romanist could be as 
ffood a christian as the Lutheran. Henry's obligations to 
his own church were altogether overlooked in his instruc- 
tion, and he was sent into the world liable to be carried 
away with every wind of doctrine. He was now sent to a high 
school, where religious instruction was indeed given, but 
where he had no opportunity of supplying the deficiencies 
of his juvenile education. The rector, who had the charge 
of the higher classes, believed that he had performed his duty, 



OR THE PROSELYTES. J 7 

when he merely read the New Testament with his scholars, 
and as he was teacher of languages, all his explanations had 
reference exclusively to grammar and idiom. He was so 
extensive in his illustrations, that during the four years in 
which Henry attended his class, the learned professor had on- 
ly proceeded as far as the ninth chapter of Matthew. Of the 
peculiarities of Christianity and of the Evangelical church, 
Henry heard nothing. He was thence sent to the univer- 
sity. It was celebrated and popular, and every thing could 
be learned except — religion. Henry heard lectures on phi- 
losophy. The professor was a celebrated man and orthodox 
besides, and hence he was favored with the chair of philoso- 
phy by the pious trustees of the University. He belonged 
to the school of Schelling. The result of the whole was that 
Henry became a sort of philosophical christian ; he would 
sometimes also settle down in religious melancholy — his 
mind was harrassed by apprehensions and doubts, and he 
was far from being contented ; and yet strangely inconsis- 
tent as he was, he entertained some fanatical notions, and 
abandoned those studies which had a tendency to excite 
pleasurable emotions, because he thought that would ren- 
der him unfit to receive the grace of God, and disqualify 
him for eternal life. In this unhappy state of mind, he de- 
termined at the end of his academical years, to bid adieu 
to his studies and devote himself exclusively to painting, 
which he had hitherto pursued merely as an amusement. His 
father did not object, and thus in the twenty-fifth year of his 
age, Henry travelled to Italy to study the great masters of 
his art. 



o# 



18 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

CHAPTER II. 

HIS RESIDENCE AT ROME AND CONVERSION TO THE ROMISH CHURCH. 

A new world now opened to his view, of which before 
he had only known the name; the Roman Catholic world. 
He heard masses and high offices, he saw episcopal conse- 
crations, pilgrimages, pictures imparting grace, bishops in 
princely vestments, cardinals, and the pope, as he dispens- 
ed his blessing to the kneeling multitude ; he was much 
astonished at all this; but he understood nothing of it, 
because he had never heard an explanation of these 
solemnities, and what religious representations they were 
intended to set forth. His ^curiosity to discover this, 
often led him to the Romish chapels. The multitude of 
the faithful which were often assembled there, their silent 
prayers, their devout appearance affected his mind, and he 
often felt himself edified by the sight. Not to appear 
singular, he followed their example ; he kneeled and kiss- 
ed the cross, and was soon so well acquainted with the ce- 
remonies that he was no lonorer distinoruished from the Ro- 
manists. The art, to which he had devoted himself, he here 
found in the closest connexion with the external practice 
of religion. All the churches were adorned with splendid 
paintings, but the principal always was a representation of 
the ''mother of God," in which the artist exerted his highest 
skill to set forth a perfect picture of chaste loveliness. 

All this was, however, as yet not detrimental to his faith, 
about which to his astonishment he had scarcely been asked. 
Kut it did not long continue so. As that which related to the 
history of the saints and legends in the pictures which he 
viewed and copied, was not yet understood by him, he found 
It t.ecessary to ask for explanations, which were very obli- 
gingly and zealously given to him. He thus received the 
first accurate information of the historical traditions of the 



OR THE PROSELYTEi?. 19 

Romish church, and of their connexion with her doctrines, 
ceremonies and organization. Incredible and curious as 
much of what they said in illustration of their pictures and 
other works of art appeared to him, and though much, es- 
pecially in the legends of the saints, was offensive to his 
inexperienced mind, yet he began gradually to regard these 
things with a less unfavorable eye. The confident assu- 
rance with which they related to him the most incredible 
stories, and often repeated and spoke of them as things 
which no man doubted, did not fail to produce upon Henry 
the usual impression. Belief is contagious, like unbelief. 
When men constantly hear the same thing, and hear it ut- 
tered in full confidence, they become inclined to regard it 
as true and to mistrust their own judgment. 

Henry as an artist of taste, was a creature of imagination 
and feeling, and he often permitted his fancy to sway his 
judgment. He yielded to delusions of this kind when his 
reason secretly reproved his decision. He gradually be- 
came better prepared to receive the most wonderful stories 
as true, for they operated upon a set of feelings which were 
developing themselves more strongly every day. He began 
to invest religion with a sort of poetic dress, and to regard 
it as a matter not of pious practice, but of use for the ima- 
gination. He indulged that disposition, for it created emo- 
tions of a pleasurable kind, and this, more than any thing 
else, prepared him for the step he was about to take. 

His melancholy and religious sentimentalism did not 
abandon him in Italy, but they were rather nourished by his 
studies. The contests and self-mortifications and tempta- 
tions of the saints which he copied, operated powerfully on 
his easily excited feelings. He wished to be a saint, to live 
in a cell, to practice the deepest self-denial, to be attacked 
by the great enemy of mankind, — to repel his assaults, — to 
be distinguished for piety, and then his name would blazon 
in the calendar, and his person and deeds be recorded on 
canvass for some future artist to study and copy. He ar- 
dently longed for some one to converse with on this sub- 



20 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

ject, — some sentimentalist like himself who would encour- 
aore him in his determination, and flatter him into its vioror- 
ous prosecution. Full of tender sensibility, and what he 
mistook for genuine religious ardor, he was in a proper 
frame of mind to be captivated by pompous religious dis- 
play, to be dazzled by gorgeous ceremonials, and to be de- 
luded into the belief that profound awe in a magnificent 
temple was religion, and the performance of a splendid 
church service, to which music, and painting, and statuary 
lent their charms, was piety. 

He did not wait long. He was acquainted with a priest 
who had been in Saxony. They soon became friends, for 
Rossi (that was his name,) could speak to him of his be- 
loved native land. Rossi had explained to him many of 
the legends, which the pictures illustrated, and it was per- 
fectly natural that the Romish priest should hold forth the 
legends of the saints and martyrs as genuine history. Hen- 
ry could not reasonably take offence. Rossi had not yet 
even mentioned the Protestant faith, yea, he even pretended 
not to know that Henry was a Protestant; — Only gradually 
and very cautiously did he mingle religion with his conver- 
sation, and in several expressions, which appeared quite in- 
cidental, he set forth the most advantageous side of Roman- 
ism. Henry in the beginning contradicted nothing, because 
he did not wish to wound the feelings of his friend; but 
gradually this fear vanished, and Henry made objections, 
which were very i^ew indeed, for he had never been instruct- 
ed in the differences between the confessions. This con- 
tradiction Rossi was wating for, for now he had an oppor- 
tunity without appearing urgent, of making his inexperi- 
enced friend intimately acquainted with all the peculiarities 
of Romanism, and of exhibiting all the grounds, which 
would most powerfully affect the unfurnished mind of Hen- 
ry. The seed did not remain without fruit. Henry felt 
more and more that his wisdom would not hold out against 
the profound arguments of his friend. He gave up one 
point after another, and it proceeded so far, that the thought 



OR THE PROSELYTES. ^1 

really occurred to him, that in Rome he had first found the 
true church. The priest soon saw through the undissem- 
bling youth, and now first uttered a few words about a change 
of ecclesiastical confession, to which the late conversion of 
a Protestant artist in Rome, who wished to gain the patron- 
age of a cardinal, gave the unsolicited occasion. It was 
not hard to convince Henry that a change of confession was 
a conscientious duty, if we have heretofore lived in gross 
error, and this was the basis on which Rossi continued dili- 
gently to build. He now ventured to express his serious 
apprehensions for his friend, because he was not in connex- 
ion with the true church, — to let him see the ecstacy which 
the remotest thought of Henry's return to the true church, 
would create within him^ — and finally to express this thought 
as the most earnest desire of his heart. 

Unable as Henry was to withstand the arguments of his 
friend in their conversations on the advantages of the Ro- 
mish church, still a certain something, — a secret feeling of 
the great importance of the step, which Rossi urged him to 
take, restrained him. But this gradually vanished, as he 
reflected on the subject. He at length told his friend how 
for a long time he had been harrassed by doubts about his 
salvation, and his perplexed state of mind generally. Ros- 
si, far from removing these doubts, only magnified them 
by saying, " it is true, we cannot expect that our faith should 
be always equally strong, and it is a very uncertain thing, 
for the human mind is not every day the same, and a doubt 
which a man with the best disposition cannot avoid, may 
destroy all our confidence, and consequently the saving 
power of faith, but we Catholics, — he added as though inci- 
dently — cannot be disturbed by such doubts, — in the midst 
of the most perplexing doubts we are yet perfectly certain 
of our salvation." He did not explain how that could be 
until the next day, when Henry himself asked for an ex- 
planation. 

"The Catholic, said Rossi, has every thing good that be- 
longs to the christian religion which Protestants have; for 



22 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

they first received it from us, and took it with them into 
their church. We have, as you, the Holy Scriptures, and 
honor them as the original fountain of all christian know- 
ledge, and it is the Catholic church upon whose testimony, 
you regard the Holy Scriptures, especially the New Testa- 
ment, as authentic. You have the Apostolical, the Nicene, 
and Athanasian creeds; we also, and you have them from 
us. You have baptism and the Lord's Supper; we also. 
You teach the mystery of the Trinity, the incarnation of 
the Son of God ; you believe in original sin, and in the 
condemnation of all men on account of sin, and in their de- 
liverance from this condemnation by the sufficient sacrifice 
of the God-man ; and all this we also believe. Then, what 
you have, we have also ; but we have more than you, and 
hence you are not certain of your salvation, because you 
have rejected it. The Catholic church, as a benevolent 
mother of the faithful, and aware of the infirmity of men, 
has not made the operation of propitiatory exercises depend- 
ant on the faith of the laity, (which as you yourself com- 
plain, is so uncertain,) but on the power of the priest 
and the nature of the propitiation itself, which promotes 
salvation ex opere operato, as we are accustomed to say, that 
is ; that the operation will be experienced and all the saving 
benefits will result from it, whether the christian accompa- 
nies it with right faith or not. Hence the Catholic need 
not trouble himself about the question, whether he has 
enough of faith, or the right faith in order to obtain justifi- 
cation before God. It is sufficient that the priest absolves 
him, — that he offers the sacrifice of the mass for him. Up- 
on the.same ground the Catholic church has not connected 
reconciliation with God with the internal act of faith, but 
with external actions which, when they are only properly 
performed, assure the poor sinner of his justification. You 
Protestants have only the Lord's Supper, which you cele- 
brate three or four times a year ; we have the daily sacrifice 
of the mass for all sins, the confession and absolution, in- 
dulgencies, and a whole series of good works, as fasting, 



OR THE PROSELYTES. w^3 

the Angelic Salutation, Aves Maria, Pilgrimages, Sacred 
Places connected with indulgencies, and the like. Hence, 
the Catholic christian lives in happy contentment and se- 
curity about his eternal salvation. Whatever scruples he 
may have, whatever sins he may commit, if he only avails 
himself of the confessional, of the mass and indulgence, 
all that will not endanger his salvation. The human heart 
is weak, and wavering in faith and virtue ; hence it is neces- 
sary for man to ground his salvation on something more 
firm and unchangeable than internal faith, and to have some- 
thing which will aid him in his weakness. For this weak- 
ness the Protestants have no remedy, but we have." 

In this way Rossi sought to convince his friend that he 
would be a very happy and contented man, if he would 
avail himself of the numerous propitiatory means which the 
Catholic church affords the christian. After this idea had 
taken root in Henry's mind, Rossi proceeded further, and 
began to show to his friend, that in the Protestant church 
there is nothing but confusion, uncertainty, infidelity and 
error ; that it is not a true church, that it has no valid priest- 
hood, and no effectual sacraments. It was easy to con- 
vince the stranger of this, after he had once begun to be- 
lieve the contrary, namely, the exclusive truth of the Catho- 
lic church. It was only the result of his defective religious 
education, for as was before observed, he had never been 
instructed in the differences between the two churches, and 
of course, had not been furnished with arguments against 
the errors of Rome. He could not withstand the wily 
Rossi, who taking advantage of his ignorance, easily infus- 
ed into his mind these pernicious tenets. 

Finally convinced, that the Romish church was the only 
true one, and which alone by the efficacy of her sacrifices 
could assure him of justification before God, six months be- 
fore his return to Saxony, he went over to that communion 
and uttered his renunciation of Protestantism in the pre- 
sence of Rossi. 



04 HENRY AND ANTONIO 



CHAPTER in. 

HIS JOURNEY HOMEWARDS— ANTONIO- GOD AND THE HERETICS— 
THE TRUE CHRISTIAN. 

He communicated this immediately, with all the ardor of 
a new convert to his father, and said that he would assuredly 
justify the measure, when he had heard his son state the 
reasons of his conversion. He would have acted more con- 
siderately however, if before taking so important a step, he 
had consulted his father or some other intelligent friend. 
But Rossi earnestly advised him not to do it, and said that 
it would only excite the opposition of his parents, and that 
his conversion to the true and only saving church, would 
only thereby be rendered more difficult. Henry suffered 
himself to be persuaded. He did as many apostates do; 
he solicited no counsel from a sensible man. He had such 
areat confidence in his own judgment, that he thought he 
stood in no need of the advice of others. Rossi had ex- 
plained the grounds so clearly, that he felt confident he 
could defend them against any opponent, and he even in- 
dulged the secret hope, of converting his parents also to 
the true and infallible church. 

He flattered himself with this confident expectation the 
more, because his father did not express any disapprobation 
in his answer. He insisted however, upon his immediate 
return, which Rossi earnestly tried to prevent, and even 
said, that disobedience to parents when salvation is con- 
cerned, is a meritorious act. But Henry determined to 
obey his father's command. Respecting his conversion, his 
father only said a few words to this amount, that they would 
speak of that when he should arrive at home, and that he 
hoped, Henry had not become a Romanist from impure mo- 
tives. As he was not conscious of that, he commenced his 
journey homewards full of confidence and joy. 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 25 

His mind continued to be elated as long as he breathed 
the air of Italy. But when from the summit of the Alps he 
for the first time again beheld the German sky, it appeared 
as though his spirits began to droop, and this actually was the 
case more and more, the nearer he approached his native 
land. Displeased at himself, that his heart now began to 
fail, especially as he could find no cause of uneasiness in 
his understanding, for he was not conscious of having done 
wrong, he again went over the whole ground of argument, 
by which Rossi had persuaded him to become a Romanist, 
and thereby sought to gain the necessary confidence of 
conviction, by which he might suppress that wonderful 
emotion of heart which harassed and humbled him. This 
contributed somewhat to his relief, but not enough. His 
heart began to beat again with unusual violence the near- 
er he approached home, and he at length found the most 
effectual source of contentment in the confidence, that 
he was so dearly loved by his parents, that even if he 
failed in convincing them of the propriety and sincerity of 
his conversion, yet that they would kindly extend their in- 
dulgence to him. But to be better prepared to meet the 
objections, which he expected would be made, he tarried a 
week in Frankfort on the Mayne, and employed this season 
of rest, in writing down the reasons of his conversion, 
which were only so many accusations against the evangeli- 
cal faith, that he might study them in their connection, and 
impress them more deeply on his mind. 

The arrival of the son was anticipated by the family at 
home with no very pleasant sensations. True, they were 
not precisely ashamed of his rash and precipitate act, but 
they experienced a certain feeling of mistrust against the 
proselyte, and a painful uncertainty whether the internal 
man had not also changed with his confession of faith, and 
whether he could now sustain to them the old familiar rela- 
tion in which they all formerly rejoiced. 

Whilst Henry was employed in his preparation for the 
theological contest he expected to have with his father, 
3 



26 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

another opponent rose immediately by his side, a circum- 
stance which he did not at all anticipate. Shortly before he 
left Rome, he took into his service a young man, whose 
handsome personal appearance, sound understanding and 
honesty of character highly recommended him to his new 
master. Antonio, — that was his name, — was by birth a 
Neapolitan, and was as an orphan brought up in a monas- 
tery. As he was anxious to learn and industrious, he gain- 
ed considerable information for one in his circumstances, 
which together with his beautiful person, procured for hinn 
a station in the retinue of a German baron, with whom he 
performed many journeys, and finally came to Rome. Here 
Henry saw him, and after the death of Antonio's master 
took him into his service, with the determination of takincr 
him to Germany, for he was pretty well acquainted with the 
language of that country. Henry soon became much 
pleased with him, and it afforded him gratification to give 
further instruction to the young man, as far as circumstan- 
ces would admit. He permitted him to take books out of 
his own library, and Antonio always selected German books, 
that he might improve himself in the language. Henry 
cheerfully assisted him in acquiring the language, and he 
was soon able to understand a German book with facility. 
He was particularly fond of historical and geographical 
works, the contents of which he soon mastered, for he had 
a most retentive memory. Henry did not precisely know 
what he should do with him in Germany. He hoped how- 
ever, to procure some profitable employment for him ; espe- 
cially as Antonio had several very flattering recommenda- 
tions to Romish priests. 

With respect to religion, Antonio knew no more than his 
teachers, the padres in Naples, had taught him. As for 
himself, he had read the Romish catechism, and an Italian 
translation of the decrees of the Council of Trent, and thus 
for a layman, was a learned Romanist. His teachers had 
done every thing in their way to make him a good Catholic. 
He believed that no man could be a christian, who did not 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 27 

hear mass, keep the fasts, pray the pater noster, receive the 
priest's absolution, and humbly believe every thing which the 
church commanded him to believe. The padres had particu- 
larly excited within him such an utter abhorrence of all here- 
tics, that he was agitated with fear whenever he met one in 
Rome. The clearest of all truths to him was, that God looks 
upon heretics with anger and abomination, that they are un- 
der the dominion of the devil, and that they are devoted with 
him to everlasting damnation. His fancy had pictured a 
wonderful representation of those heretical countries, where 
according to his expression, "faith ends, and the dominion 
of the devil begins." Hence he was at first doubtful, whe- 
ther he should accompany Henry to the heretical Saxony, 
and only finally determined when he heard that there were 
also Catholic churches and priests there, who were zealous- 
ly engaged in the diffusion of the true faith. From many 
expressions of his master he even indulged the hope that 
there his fortune would soon be made. 

As long as they were travelling over the Alps, the magnifi- 
cent displays of nature's works alone occupied the atten- 
tion of Antonio, and without observing it, he had already 
trodden on the heretical soil of Zurich. He highly extoll- 
ed the beauty of the country, its thriving agriculture and 
substantial buildings, and admired these still more as he 
passed through Stuttgard, Carlsruhe and Heidelberg. Yet 
it appeared strange that in these delightful regions he had thus 
far seen no monk, and very seldom a priest, whilst in Rome 
and Naples they are met at almost every step. He express- 
ed his surprise to Henry, and was evidently much confused, 
when he heard that these prosperous countries were the 
possession of heretics. Henry was too much occupied with 
himself to observe the agitation of his servant. As they 
proceeded on their journey and continued to see finely cul- 
tivated fields, a prosperous and moral people, and yet saw 
no priests, monks, images of sainis or monasteries, the 
theology of Antonio was not equal to this remarkable cir- 
cumstance, and he was utterly at a loss what to think of t>'e 



28 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

evident smiles and blessings of Providence upon these ac- 
cursed heretics. He could not reconcile this apparent con- 
tradiction. He at length took courage to awaken his mas- 
ter out of his reverie, and freely disclose his heart. 

"You are a good Catholic, said he, and hence do not 
doubt that the Catholics alone can be saved, and that all he- 
retics will be cursed. For they have not the true faith; 
they have not true repentance, no true sacraments, no true 
worship ; their preachers cannot effectually absolve ; they 
reject the vicegerent of God and of Christ, the holy father, 
and are therefore rebels against Christ and God ; they are 
beset by the devil and are led by him into all error and wick- 
edness; heresy is the mother of all licentiousness. All this 
is very certain, for the holy church teaches it, and she can- 
not err. And yet I see these heretical countries abundant- 
ly blessed of God, more extensively and beautifully cultiva- 
ted, more populous, their population better clothed and shel- 
tered, and the houses more numerous and commodious than 
those of the dominions of the holy father. How can God 
be so favorable to these accursed reprobates? And it aston- 
ishes me still more that here where heresy prevails, I find 
good order, good morals, public security, industry and gen- 
eral prosperity. Here I scarcely see a single beggar, whilst 
with us, they besiege every street; here men know nothing 
of robberies and assassinations, whilst with us they are very 
common. tell me how is this possible? So much I see, 
that in this country a false and pernicious faith prevails, but 
the people are honest, whilst with us the true faith prevails 
and the people are not remarkably moral. Were I not so 
good a Catholic, I would be tempted to believe that these 
people also have religion, and that they cannot be worse 
than we."* 

Henry looked upon his servant with astonishment. This 

*We may also observe that in the Protestant countries, agriculture 
and industry were enriched by the suppression of numerous holidays, 
lost to labor in Catholic countries, and which are in reality, negative 
quantities, that diminish by all their amount, the aggregate of natio^^ 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 29 

speech was qijite unexpected, for Antonio had until then 
concealed his thoughts from him. But they related to a 
point, upon which he himself had not meditated, and to 
which he was unable at the moment to make a reply. "God 
is also merciful to unbelievers, — he finally stammered out 
with considerable reluctance, — that they may have time and 
room for repentance." But he felt very sensibly, how un- 
satisfactory this reply was, and he was almost alarmed at 
the thought of what he should reply to his father, were he to 

al industry and riches. Villers'' Essay on the Reformalion, p. 138, Dover, 
X. H. edilion, 1S07. 

"Agriculture, economy and its various branches were in a deplorable 
state of degradation. Such is nearly their present condition in the fine 
provinces of Naples and Rome, in Spain and Portugal. Poverty, in- 
dolence and immorality, all sorts of vices are engendered among peo- 
ple of such dispositions. What activity, on the contrary, what im- 
provements in agriculture, in rural economy, in the government, strike 
the attention of an observer in the midst of the cold and infertile fields 
of Scotland, in England and Holland ! The contrast of these indu- 
bitable effects of the two religions is more particularly perceptible in 
Germany and Switzerland, where the different territories which are in- 
termixed, cause the traveller to pass continually from a Catholic to a 
Protestant country. Does he meet with a miserable mud cottage, co- 
vered with thatch, the fields badly kept, wretched rude peasants, and 
many beggars ; he will be in little danger of erring, if he conjecture 
that he is in a Catholic country. If, on the contrary, neat, pleasant 
houses are seen, offering the spectacle of affluence and industry, the 
fields well enclosed, a culture well understood, it is very probable he 
is among Protestants." Ibid, p. 213. 

"It is a fact that more crimes are committed in catholic than in pro- 
testant countries. Cit. Rahman, President of the special tribunal of 
eloquence, in his coup-d'ocil sur cetat, &.c. says, that the number of 
malefactors in the catholic and protestant cantons is in the proportion 
of four, if not six to one. At Augsburg, the territory which offers a 
mixture of the two religions, of 946 malefactors, convicted in the course 
of ten years, there were only 184 protestants, that is to say, less than one 
in five. The celebrated philanthropist Howard observed that the pri- 
sons of Italy were incessantly crowded — while he affirms that the pri- 
sons of Berne are almost always empty ; that in those of Lausane he 
did not find any prisoner ; and only one at Shaffhausen ; here are facts, 
1 do not draw any conclusion." Ibid, p. 213, note, 

3* 



30 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

ask the same question. He included this question amono- 
his present investigations, but found that the more he 
reflected upon it, the less satisfactory was his answer. 

Antonio suffered himself to be put off with this reply, 
but he was not satisfied. This double contradiction con- 
tinually revolved in his mind ; heresy is an abomination 
before God, and all heretics are cursed, and yet God blesses 
them; they are children of the devil and full of soul de- 
stroying errors, and yet they are moral, upright and honest. 
Whilst Antonio was perplexed by these doubts, he passed a 
church, when the bell was ringing for Sunday worship, — he 
took courage to follow the multitude, and for the first time 
in his life, he entered a heretical church. It is true, that 
his father confessor had before his departure from Rome, 
forbidden this as a grievous sin ; but his curiosity to see 
heretics at their v\'orship was too strong to be resisted, and 
Antonio hoped to be absolved from this at the next confes- 
sion, even if he were obliged to undergo some severe 
penance, for as a good Catholic he was determined to con- 
fess it. 

Antonio entered shyly and timorously, just like one who 
is about to commit a heinous sin. There was no conse- 
crated water there, that is so effectual in driving away evil 
spirits from the faithful, and none of those who entered 
availed themselves of that wonderful preservation from dia- 
bolical influence so powerful in the Romish church. "The 
poor wretches ! (thought Antonio,) how can they escape 
the temptations of the devil without the holy water? " He 
looked round upon the walls and pillars, but there was no 
saint, and not even the Virgin Mary to be seen. "The piti- 
ful fools! (he sighed again,) to whom do they pray, for they 
have neither saint nor the Mother of God." It also ap- 
peared very strange, that none of those who entered, bow- 
ed down before the altar ; but as he approached nearer, he 
saw that there was no pyx * containing the body of God. 
"Alas, the miserable creatures! (he thought again,) how 

*The box in which the consecrated host is kept. — [Tr. 



OR THE PROSELYTES, ^j 

can they receive grace, when they have no sacrifice ! " He 
already began to repent that he had mingled with a congrega- 
tion without holy water, without saints, and a pyx, for with- 
out these, it appeared to him to be little better than a hea- 
than assembly. In the mean time the service commenced, 
and the earnest singing of the whole congregation, which 
he heard here for the first time, and the simple beauty of the 
tune, deeply engaged his attention. Of the portion of 
scripture read, he understood nothing; but the next hymn 
which the congregation sung, made a deeper impression on 
his mind than the tones of the hired singers in the papal 
chapel, and he could not refuse the friendly oflfer of a neigh- 
bor who handed to him a hymn book. He read, and the 
congregation sung the following hymn : 

Mistaken souls, that dream of heaven. 

And make their empty boast 
Of inward joys and sins forgiven, 

While they are slaves to lust. 

Vain are our fancies, airy flights. 

If faith be cold and dead ; 
None but a living power unites 

To Christ the living head. 

A faith that changes all the heart ; 

A faith that works by love ; 
That bids all sinful joys depart, 

And lifts the thoughts above. 

Faith must obey our Father's will. 

As well as trust his grace ; 
A pard'ning God requires us still 

To perfect holiness. 

Is this also true ? thought Antonio to himself — or have 
the heretics only fancied these things to console themselves, 
knowing that they have not the true faith .? He was soon 
to hear more than this. The sermon commenced and 
treated this very subject; that without holiness no man can 



32 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

be a true christian, and can have no claim to salvation, 
however orthodox, and zealous he may be in works of ex- 
ternal devotion. Antonio was all ear, and the longer he 
heard the more attentive he became. The portion of scrip- 
ture on which the preacher grounded his observations, im- 
pressed Antonio more than the sermon. It was the gospel 
for the eighth Sunday after Trinity, Matt.vii. 15 — 23. "The 
words of the wise, says Solomon, Eccles. xii. 11, are as 
gaods and as nails," and so Antonio felt the words of the 
text in his heart, and he finally believed here to have found 
an explanation of the difliculties which lately harassed him^ 
why in the land of heretics there were witnessed the mani- 
fest blessing of God and christian uprightness. 

The Saviour says, (for by degrees this became the gene- 
ral course of Antonio's thoughts,) that sheep's clothing does 
not constitute the true prophet, consequently the surplice 
does not make the true bishop, and the rosary, fasting and 
hearing mass do not complete the true christian. "Ye shall 
know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, 
or figs of thistles?" If true priests are known by the good 
fruits of a christian life, how much more christian laymen ? 
Hence from true christian faith nothing vicious can proceed, 
and from heresy nothing virtuous can come. "A good tree 
cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree 
bring forth good fruit." This reminded Antonio of one of 
his acquaintances, the servant of a Neapolitan duke, who 
told him in confidence, that at the instigation of his mas- 
ter, he was going to assassinate another Neapolitan noble- 
man, and when Antonio tiied to dissuade him from it, he 
received for reply : "Fool, the priest has already absolved 
me twice from the guilt, and if he does not do it the third 
time, another will." That appeared to Antonio to be evil 
fruit, which showed that the tree which bare it, was evil also. 
Whilst he was thinking whether a priest had the power to 
absolve a man from the crime of murdef, the preacher re- 
cited the words of the nineteenth verse, and they struck 
him with peculiar force ; "every tree that bringeth not forth 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 



33 



good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire." Is not 
the following exception made, thought Antonio ; "unless a 
priest or a papal indulgence absolves him ? " He thought 
the exception must be made, but he heard nothing of it. 
The preacher from this passage insisted forcibly on the un- 
conditional necessity of christian holiness for the attainment 
of salvation. 

Much more deeply did the following passages impress 
him; "not every one saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall 
enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but he that doeth the 
will of my father which is in heaven ; many will say unto 
me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy 
name, and in thy name cast out devils? and in thy name 
done many wonderful works ? And then I will profess and 
say unto them, I never knew you ; depart from me, ye that 
work iniquity." So, said Antonio to himself, it is not 
enough, that we openly profess Jesus to be the Lord, and 
have the christian confession of faith ; not enough to work 
miracles to be a good christian ? If that is not enough, then 
by all the saints ! it is not enough for the Catholic church 
to be the true church, that she alone has the true confession 
of faith, that miracles still continue with her, that her priests 
can banish evil spirits by holy water and benedictions ! If 
that is not enough, then the Lutherans can also get to 
heaven if they lead christian lives. 

Full of these thoughts, Antonio left the church and went 
home, and as his master had just gone out, he asked his 
landlord whether he had a bible in the house, and could 
find the text of the sermon he had just heard. Antonio 
wished to see whether the preacher had left nothing out, for 
he thought there must be something there which made fast- 
ing, confession and absolution, and the rosary essential to 
salvation, and that the indulgence or the wearing the cloak 
of a penitent monk also protected the sinner from damna- 
tion. But he found nothing else but the naked words 
which the preacher had read. "But is there nothing left 
out in this translation," he asked the landlord, as he re- 



34 HENRY AND ANTOXIO, 

turned the bible. The landlord who well understood with 
whom he had to do, said nothing but brought a little book, 
which he presented to Antonio with these words; "Here is 
a translation of the bible by a Catholic priest." It was the 
New Testament translated by a Catholic minister Van Ess. 
Antonio found in it the same, and nearly in the same words, 
but nothincT more. 

"Then, thought he, with a degree of ill nature, the 
heretical preacher is right ! but how can that be when 
the church teaches differently, and she cannot err ! But he 
certainly has the words of the Saviour on his side. Which 
is now more infallible, his words or the decision of the 
church ? Can the latter be more infallible, when she re- 
ceives all her doctrines and infallibility from Christ?" 

Antonio was evidently in a dilemma, from which he could 
not extricate himself. He hoped to be able to solve it after 
he had read more of the New Testament, and the benevo- 
lent landlord seeing that the book afforded him pleasure, 
begged him to accept it as a present. He received it very 
thankfully, but was soon troubled by conscientious scru- 
ples, for it just then occurred to him, that only heretics al- 
lowed so free a use of the bible, and that the holy father 
had only lately again represented the reading of the 
bible in the language of the country as extremely pernicious. 
Yet the thought that the translator of this testament was a 
Catholic priest, gave him courage to look into the book, 
and all apprehension immediately vanished, when he saw 
on the title page the episcopal approbation of the work. 
Antonio now read this testament with uncommon zeal, and 
had sufficient time to devote to it, for his duties as a servant 
were quickly despatched, and his master spent nearly the 
whole day in his own room. When they left Frankfort, he 
had read the whole testament through twice. It was with 
him as with Luther, when in Erfurt he first read the bible ; 
he was astonished at the many new things which he found, 
and much more at the many old things which the Romish 
church maintains as essential to Christianity, but of which 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 35 

he found nothing in the testament. The old and new things 
were continually revolving in his mind, and often perplexed 
'lim not a little. In such moments of perplexity, when the 
old had the preponderance in his mind, he occasionally mur- 
mured to himself, "it is certainly very dangerous for a good 
Catholic to travel through heretical countries." At other 
times, when the new which he had seen, and heard, and 
read, gained the mastery in his thoughts, he acknowledged 
with an emotion of joy, that he could become a quite dif- 
ferent spiritual being, if he dared trust and surrender him- 
self to the new. He felt a strong disposition to communi- 
cate his thoughts and feelings to his master; but Henry's 
moroseness, his short and sometimes severe replies, alarmed 
Antonio, and induced him to hold his peace. But this also 
gave him much uneasiness. He saw plainly that some deep 
anxiety oppressed his master. He also became affected, 
and finally asked him in a tone of sympathy, what it was 
that made him so unhappy, and kept him so silent, when 
his near approach to home ought to enliven him. Henry 
was silent, and Antonio did not repeat the question. 



CHAPTER IV. 

HENRY'S ARRIVAL AT HOME— THE PRIVILEGE OF CHANGING OUR 

FAITH. 

Henry was only fifteen miles from home, as one day at 
noon he entered a village where his mother and sister met 
him, and with tears of joy locked him in their arms. This 
sincere gush of unchanged affection dispelled the gloom 
which had for some time oppressed him. He felt that they 
still recognized in him a son and a brother, and that his 
change of faith had not changed their love. He was now 
inspired with the hope of meeting his father without even a 



35 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

look of displeasure on his part, although Henry immediate- 
ly observed that his father had not accompanied them. The 
apology of the good mother, that business had prevented 
him, was only a pretence. He could no longer be sincere- 
ly pleased with his son ; he could not altogether suppress 
his deep mortification ; he was determined to let the son 
feel that he had alienated himself from his father's affections, 
and hence he did not go out to meet him. Henry had an- 
ticipated something of this, and it became more certain, 
when after the first gush of joy, a silence and interruption of 
the conversation occurred between him and his mother, which 
was very painful to them both. It was evident that there 
was one point between them which needed explanation, 
but which each was reluctant to introduce. But genuine 
affection does not long endure such reserve ; they came to 
an explanation, and Henry consoled his mother with the 
assurance that he was still the same loving and dutiful son, 
and by the promise that he would faithfully and honestly 
lay before his father the whole ground of his conversion, 
by which he would be convinced, that neither a disordered 
fancy, nor inclination to mysticism, nor any other dishon- 
orable motive induced him to embrace Romanism, but 
grounds reasonable and deeply matured, which the father 
himself could not but justify. The mother thought that the 
latter was hardly to be expected, but consoled the son by 
saying that much already would be gained, if he could 
convince his father that he had acted honestly. With a 

lightened heart, Henry proceeded to L with his mother 

and sister, and fell upon the bosom of his dear father, who 
received him with friendly composure. The conversation 
of the first ^ew hours related to the subject of his tour, and 
the changes that had taken place in his native land during 
his absence; but in the evening when the family was sitting 
together alone, and mutual confidence restored, Henry 
himself introduced the subject of his conversion, for he felt 
more courage in the immediate presence of his amiable fa- 
ther, than he did at a distance. 



OB TUE PROSELYTES. 



37 



"Dear father, said he, you will doubtless look upon your 
son with suspicion, because he has gone over to the Ro- 
mish church ; you are perhaps displeased with me, and I 
cannot complain of that, for I know your principles. I feel 
it my duty faithfully to state the whole case, and I hope 
that you will kindly hear me, that on this point there may 
be a correct understanding between us. 

Father. — I expect such a disclosure from you, my 
son, and I am pleased that you have commenced the sub- 
ject, for I should have felt it my duty to demand it of you. 
I do not deny it (he said with earnestness,) that your course 
has erected a partition wall between you and me, which 
must be broken down before our hearts can be united as 
formerly. 

Henry. — I hope to be able to reconcile you, if you only 
hear me attentively, and judge impartially. 

Father. — You can expect both of me, and the more 
certainly, for we will not speak of this subject unless your 
mother and sister are present; for they have as good a right 
as I have to know your sincerity. 

Henry. — In the general you would not blame a man for 
leaving one christian church and joining another. I well 
know that it is a principle strongly maintained, that it is 
not allowable for a person to change his confession of faith; 
that every one must remain in the church in which he was 
born and educated, and to which he promised fidelity when 
he was first received as an adult member. But I never 
could justify this principle in its full extent. I willingly 
admit, that a man is under the same obligations to the 
church to which he belongs, as to the stat-e in which he was 
born and brought up. Only unfeeling, unreasonable and 
bad men can leave their own church from mere grounds of 
selfishness or aggrandizement. But it is not meant that a 
man under all circumstances is to remain in the church 
with which he is connected. For we are all sacredly 
bound to follow the truth, as the Saviour says, "he that is of 
the truth, heareth my voice !" Now if my church has 
4 



38 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

departed from the truth, and I find that another church has 
been faithful to the truth, then I have good grounds to leave 
my church and go over to the other. For however thankful 
every one should be to his own church for the first instruc- 
tion he received within her pale, yet it is not to be denied, 
that we do not exercise any choice in our original con- 
nection with the church ; we feel attachment to it because 
our parents do, and have no other grounds of preference ; 
and even if persons are admitted to full communion at an 
early age, they generally do not know why they join that 
church rather than any other. Is this promise made so 
young to be forever binding ? Even when we see that we were 
in error, shall we continue to walk in that way which we 
have discovered to be wrong, merely because we walked in 
it as children, and continued in it to mature age? 

Mother. — But suppose we have found ourselves hap- 
py in this way? And millions of others walk in it and are 
happy also ? And when we see parents and friends, whose 
understanding and piety we honor, walking contentedly in 
this way? 

Henry. — You think, dear mother, that I am speaking of 
the lawfulness of going over from the Protestant to the Cath- 
olic church. I am not speaking now of a change of one 
good church for another, but of the liberty of changing our 
confession of faith in general, and my remarks will also 
apply to the Catholic who goes over to the Protestant 
church. 

Father. — It is so, my dear wife. In general, the 
change of one confession for another cannot be regarded 
as unlawful or immoral, and that position which some main- 
tain, that he who wishes to be an honest man must remain 
in his own church, is utterly groundless. If it were correct, 
then Jesus and his apostles could not have abondoned Ju- 
daism, the first christians could not have forsaken heathen- 
ism, our German ancestors could not have turned from 
the worship of Wodan to the service of the true God, and 
our fathers of 300 years ago could not have separated from 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 39 

the Romish church. Abraham went out from his idolatrous 
country, from his father's house, and in a strange land serv- 
ed God, who made the heavens and the earth. Besides, the 
truth is so sacred a thing, that we should never, at least in 
religion, sacrifice it to circumstances. 

WiLHELMiNA. — Your examples, father, with the excep- 
tion of a single one, relate only to conversion from a re- 
ligion altogether false as heathenism was, or from a cor- 
rupt one, as Judaism, to true religion or Christianity, and 
are not applicable, as it appears to me, to an exchange of 
one christian church for another. Here we have in each 
church, I mean the Evangelical and Catholic, baptism and 
the Lord's supper, the same bible, the same Christ, the same 
God. If then both churches have the essentials of Chris- 
tianity, the other smaller differences do not appear to justi- 
fy the leaving of one for the other, but every one should 
continue in connection with the church, to which he be- 
longs. You yourself taught me, that a wife, who does not 
see all perfection in her husband, or discovers unexpected 
faults, and observes more amiable qualities in other men, 
could not be justified in separating from him, but must con- 
tinue faithful to him, bear with his faults and only look upon 
his virtues. I should think that every one bore a relation 
somewhat similar to his church, as a wife does to her hus- 
band. Every church has its imperfections, but also its 
good qualities. It can demand inviolable fidelity. - 

Father. — I wish, Wilhemina, that your intended husband 
were present; he would be pleased with your objection. As 
respects your comparison, it is not at all applicable to the 
case, but is lame, like most comparisons. You should have 
added, that the obligations of married persons to bear the 
faults of their partners have their bounds, for instance, 
when one party no longer performs the promised duties and 
no longer fulfils the object of matrimony. So long as your 
husband keeps his promise, so long you are bound as his 
his wife faithfully to obey him and to observe your vows, even 
if another man pleases you better. If he commits a fault 



40 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

inadvertently, then you must forgive him, for you also 
may have faults which will require his indulgence. If 
however, he designedly neglects his duties and frustrates 
the object of matrimonial life, he then himself dissolves 
the bond which held you to him, and the laws will annul 
your obligations. It depends upon yourself whether you 
are resolved to endure his conduct, remain with him, and 
perform the duties of a wife; you thereby do no injury and 
commit no fault against a third person, for you are not un- 
der obligations to any other man. But quite different is your 
relation to the church. Christianity has a fixed and high 
object in view, and the church is established for the purpose 
of accomplishing this object in every individual man. If 
it is so constituted that it not only does not hinder but 
promote this object, and guide its members to the at- 
tainment of it, then it is a good church, for it affords what 
it promises. Then men must remain faithful to it, even if it 
has faults and imperfections, just as you, dear Wilhelmina, 
are bound to be faithful to your husband, if he performs the 
duties of a husband, even if he has many imperfections. 
But if a church is so constituted, that it does not promote 
the object of Christianity in individuals, and moreover, if it has 
doctrines, customs, and an organization, which oppose this 
object, and prevent its attainment in the minds of its mem- 
bers, then you are not at liberty to remain in connection 
with it, as you are at liberty to continue with your husband 
from whom you could be lawfully separated. You are much 
rather bound to dissolve your connection with such a church, 
for here you have duties to perform towards a third person, 
who has commanded you to do this. Ask not who this 
third person is? There is more than one. The first is God, 
who in Christ has sent you a guide to perfection, whom you 
are bound to hear. You are not allowed to be satisfied 
with any thing less than perfection. The husband at the 
altar does not bind himself to exhibit all the perfections, 
which the imagination of his bride may demand of a man. 
For how could he know, what wonderful picture of mascu' 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 4 J 

line perfection the tender heart of a sentimental girl has 
created? But here you know, that we are to be perfect, 
as our father in heaven is perfect. You dare not be satisfied 
with any thing short of it; the church dare not substitute 
any thing else in place of it, but it should be "a glorious 
church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but 
that it should be holy and without blemish." (Ephes.v. 27.) 
Then you dare not retain your connection with a corrupt 
church, as a wife may continue with a bad husband. Again ; 
the third person towards whom you have duties to perform 
is your Saviour himself, — the church is his property, and 
that the church might accomplish the object in view, he sa- 
crificed his life. He is the invisible Lord, the supreme head 
of his church, and he cannot acknowledge any communion 
as his church and a true church, whose doctrines and rites 
oppose the design for which he was sent of God, even if 
that communion does call him Lord. But again: this third 
person is yourself. For in a corrupt church you can hardly 
be a true christian, well pleasing to the Saviour, and if from 
your superior illumination you might possibly be, yet it is 
immoral to expose yourself continually to the dangerous 
and corrupting influence of such doctrines and rites, which 
may lead you from the path of true Christianity. You are 
morally bound to flee from such temptations, and to iflform 
and strengthen your better judgment; so for your own sake 
you are bound to leave the corrupt church and unite your- 
self with the purer. That third person is finally your fel- 
low christian. Whilst you remain connected with a church 
which opposes the design of Christianity, you encourage 
others to persevere, who know not how to resist its evil 
influence — you contribute to the support of a pernicious 
system — you prevent the prosperity of your brethren, and 
commit treason against true Christianity. 

Henry. — Dear father, you have expressed my sentiments 

precisely ! how I am cheered by these words ! I hope to 

be able to prove to you, that the Roman Catholic is the true 

church, which promotes the object of Christianity — but the 

4* 



42 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

Protestant church opposes it. At least this is my firm con- 
viction, supported on substantial grounds. And when I 
have laid them before you, and you are are brought to ac- 
knowledge their force, then dearest father 

Father. (Interrupting him sternly) — I must follow 

you and also become a Catholic? 

Henry was silent : — he felt that the inference was natu- 
ral, but not daring to confirm it, only remarked, that he 
hoped to receive forgiveness of his father. 

The father did not let him oflT so lightly ; he rather gave 
a direction to the subject, which made the young man trem- 
ble. "If you — he said solemnly — are an honest man and a 
christian, and we prove to you that the Romish church op- 
poses the design of Christianity, you must abandon her 
communion and return to ours!" 

Henry was reluctantly silent. 

"Promise me — continued the father, extending his hand — 
promise me that you will do it, if I am to believe in the sin- 
cerity of your Catholicism and not to regard you as a hypo- 
crite." 

Henry took courage; — he grasped his father's hand and 
solemnly promised. He was certain of his opinions ; he 
was a Romanist from conviction. Why should he be ap- 
prehensive ? 

"With this agreement said the mother, let us close the 
conversation on this subject, and devote the remainder of 
the evening to amusement." Father and son willingly ex- 
pressed their consent; the former only upon the condition, 
that Henry would prepare himself to bring forward his argu- 
ments for his church against Protestantism the next evening. 
The numerous visits, however, which Henry received and 
paid, prevented the fulfilment of his promise until the third 
evening. 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 43 

CHAPTER V. 

GOING TO CHURCH —THE LATIN LITURGY. 

It was Sunday morning, and the parents and Wilhemina 
were preparing to go to church. Henry did the same, and 
the mother secretly rejoiced at it. It was not so with the 
father. He was silent, but his stern countenance too plain- 
ly discovered that his mind was deeply disturbed. Finally, 
as they were about to depart, and Henry reached after his 
hat, the father asked: ''do you intend to accompany us? — 
to go with us to church ? " 

Henry. — Yes ! — I hope that you will not disapprove of it. 

Father. — I think it exceedingly strange, my son. You 
regarded us as so grossly erroneous in our religious opin- 
ions, that you separated from us, and yet you will go with 
us to church? so you will do a thing, which you know 
to be wrong ! And is it not directly against the principles 
of your church to enter a heretical place of worship ? Is it 
not forbidden by your priests ? 

"That prohibition, said Henry with great confidence, 
does not affect me, for before my departure from Rome, I 
received the papal permission, not only to go to Protestant 
churches, but also to celebrate the Lord's Supper with them, 
and to observe all their church rites." 

"Silence, sir, cried out the father with great violence, 
silence, and stay back ! you cannot, you dare not enter our 
church so long as you hold us as cursed heretics, and our 
worship as cursed heresy. No man can give you authority 
to act the hypocrite and deceiver, and none but a paltry 
fellow would make use of such permission." 

Henry stood confused, ashamed ; — he remained behind ; 
The mother wept ; — the devotion of the day was lost to the 
father. The abominable examples of secret Catholics, who 
with the papal permission, for so many years played the 



44 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

part of Evangelical christians, occurred to him. He thought 
of king Charles the second of England, who repeatedly and 
publicly vowed fidelity to the English church, and yet after 
his death in 1685, it was made evident, that for a long time 
he had been a Romanist. He thought of the Saxon crown 
Prince Frederick Augustus, the son of Augustus the Strong, 
whom they secretly made a Catholic in Italy, and gave him 
permission to conceal it from 1712 until 1717; he thought 
of the permission given to Frederick, the crown prince of 
Hesse Cassel to conceal his conversion from 1749 to 1754. 
He remembered, how the Duke Moritz, William of Saxony, 
administrator of the Protestant institute Zeitz, was secretly 
converted to Romanism in 1715, by the Jesuit Schmeltzer, 
who insinuated himself into his favor under the title of a 
Secretary of legation, and how he concealed it even from 
his wife, and continued to manage the institution for two 
years. How could he have forgotten the recent examples 
of this kind? for instance, that of the duke of Stolberg, 
who as late as 1798, appeared a zealous Protestant in a 
pamphlet which he wrote, and yet in 1800 publicly avowed 
that he had been a Romanist for seven years? And that of 
the court-preacher. Stark of Darmstadt, who performed the 
duties of an evangelical minister until his death, but during 
his life, secretly published a defence of the Romish church 
and an attack against the Protestant, and after his death 
was buried in the Romish grave yard ? And that of Mr. 
Von Haller, who in a letter to his family, himself acknow- 
ledges that in 1820, he was secretly admitted into the Ro- 
mish church by a Romish bishop in a private country 
house, but that a dispensation was granted him to continue 
externally an evangelical christian, and a member of the 
council of his native town, which is sworn to maintain the 
evangelical faith ? This same Mr. Von Haller confessed in 
that letter that the apostate duke Adolplius of Mecklenberg- 
Schwerin assured him, that there are many secret Roman- 
ists in Germany, who are allowed the liberty of concealing 
it from the people. 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 45 

To find Henry in the society of such men, whose con- 
duct he regarded as contemptible hypocrisy, or at least as 
unpardonable weakness, was exceedingly painful to him, 
althouorh it was nothino- more than what he mi^ht have ex- 
pected, since he knew so many instances of the kind. He 
was so much excited, that he could pay no attention to the 
services of the church. His dark and troubled eye was 
steadfastly fixed on the floor; only once he looked up to- 
wards the pulpit, and immediately under it he saw Antonio 
standing and listening most attentively to the sermon. This 
gave his mind another direction. Perhaps, thought he, the 
seed of truth will be sown in the heart of this young man, 
which will produce good fruit, and he could not conceal it 
from himself, that it would have been much better, if he 
had permitted his son to accompany them to church. He 
recollected how Henry himself had accounted for the con- 
version of so many Protestants in Rome, by saying that 
they would have been obliged to remain in the capital of 
Romanism so long without spiritual nourishment, so that 
they were forced of themselves to seek the supply of their 
religious wants in Romish churches, and thus gradually at- 
tached themselves to it. It occurred to him also, that Wil- 
helmina had apologized for the conduct of her brother, by 
maintaining that he never would have been unfaithful to his 
church, if he had remained in the bosom of his family, 
and had enjoyed the privileges of evangelical worship. He 
felt the force of this observation so strongly, that he regret- 
ted his vehemency, and with a tranquil mind he returned to 
his son. 

"Henry, said he, I was wrong in forbidding you to attend 
our church. The sick man must not be prevented from go- 
ing to the physician. I have nothing against your being 
present at our worship ; I rather wish it. But do not men- 
tion the dispensation again. To worship God in a proper 
manner and to hear his word, cannot be authorised by any 
man, because no man has a right to forbid it. He who 
believes that such permission is necessary, plainly shows, 



.t**'- 



46 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

that instead of being a servant of God, he has become 
the slave of men. What is the object of your Pope's 
dispensation ? Either it is right and good that you worship 
God with us, then you need no permission ; or it is impro- 
per and injurious, then the Pope has no right to give it to 
you, and if he had, you have no right to make use of it." 

Henry rejoiced that the tranquility of his father's mind 
was restored, and in apology only remarked, that he regard- 
ed the prohibition to visit any other than Catholic churches 
not as moral, but only as disciplinary, — that the Catholic 
church only thus cautions her members not to expose their 
faith to danger, and that a dispensation from this did not ap- 
pear lo him improper. The father thought that Henry's 
opinion of this subject was utterly erroneous, and that ac- 
cording to the principles of the Romish church respecting 
heresy, such a permission could only be compared to that 
which a general gives to his spies, occasionally to wear the 
uniform of the enemy, and to mingle with them as friends, but 
only for the purpose of deceiving and ensnaring them. But 
still he thought, that though Henry was in error, yet that 
he acted from the purest motives. 

The mother who had been deeply pained at the vehe- 
mence of her husband, was now the more gratified at the 
reconciliation. Desirous of changing the subject of con- 
versation, she asked Antonio, who just then entered the 
room, and whom she had observed at church, how he was 
pleased with the Protestant worship ? "By the holy St. Jan- 
uarius* he cried out in Neapolitan ardour, I was exceed- 
ingly well pleased ! " 

Mother. — And why ? 

Antonio — Because I could understand it. 

•The patron saint of Naples, a portion of whose blood kept in a vial 
is annually exiiibited to the multitude, who fall down and adore it ! ! ! 
It is a chemical preparation of a red color, which dissolves by the 
warmth of the hand. This the priests know, but yet teach the people 
that it is the genuine blood of the Saint ! — [Tr. 



OR THE PROSELYTES, ^ 

Mother. — And that is, because you have learned the 
language of our country. 

Antonio. — I do not mean that, but because here the wor- 
ship is not performed in Latin, as with us, but in the lan- 
guage of the country. 

Mother. — You are certainly joking, good Antonio ! how 
could worship be edifying to the people if it was perform- 
ed in a language which they did not understand ? 

Henry. — Antonio speaks the truth, Mother. In the sacred 
services, particularly the mass, the church retains the Latin 
language, partly because it is rendered sacred by the high 
antiquity of the ritual, and partly because it is better suited 
to the holy mysteries. The people would only be disturbed 
in their devotion, if the ritual were celebrated in the lan- 
guage of the country, and they would have less reverence 
for the holy mysteries, which while they do not understand, 
yet they can/eeZ their power in their hearts. Hence, the 
church does not allow the worship to be conducted in any 
other than the Latin language. 

The Father. — What language, my son, did the Saviour 
and the apostles use, when they taught and instituted the 
mysteries? 

Henry. — Certainly the language of their country, that 
of Palestine, or perhaps the Greek, which was very com- 
monly spoken by the people. 

Father. — And in what language did the christians of 
the early centuries celebrate their religious service? 

Henry. — I cannot deny that every congregation used 
the language of the country in which it was located ; the 
Greeks the Greek, the Latins the Latin, the Syrians the 
Syriac. 

Father. — You see, dear Henry, that christians had a 
right to hold their worship and celebrate the sacraments 
in their mother tongue. This right we also have. That 
the western christians employed the Latin in their worship, 
was right, for it was the language of the country; but that 
the German, English and French also use the Latin in wor- 



4g HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

ship, is a manifest perversion and gross impropriety. If igno- 
rance of the language promotes devotion, or if any impor- 
tance is to be attached to its antiquity, and men attach a sort 
of sacredness to it, then tlie language of Palestine, or at 
any rate the Greek, in which the New Testament was 
written, and the mysteries first celebrated, should be em- 
ployed rather than the Latin. Why do they adhere so per- 
tinaciously to the Latin ritual? does it not appear as though 
they were afraid that it should be understood by the laity ? 

WiLHELMiNA. — For my part I would not consent to be 
married out of a Latin ritual, for I would not know whether 
the priest was marrying or divorcing me. I should think 
that that which is unintelliorible cannot awaken devotion. 
Would a person ignorant of English be more deeply moved 
if he saw an English representation of Hamlet and Mac- 
beth, than if he witnesssd the performance of those master 
pieces in a German translation ? 

In the mean time, Antonio who had suddenly left the 
room, entered with a book, in which he was hastily turning 
over the leaves. It was the German translation of the New 
Testament by Van Ess. "I have here, he said to Henry, 
I have here found a passage which makes me doubtful 
whether our priests do right in holding their worship in La- 
tin. Paul writes to the christians in Corinth, in his first 
epistle, (ch. ivx, 2.) " For he that speaketh in an unknown 
tongue, speaketh not unto men, but unto God ; for no man 
understandeth him : however in the spirit he speaketh mys- 
teries ; but he that prophesieth speaketh unto men, to edi- 
fication, and exhortation and comfort." v. 6. Now brethren, 
if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I pro- 
fit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or 
by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine ? v. 9. So 
likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be 
understood, how shall it be known what is spoken ? For ye 
shall speak into the air. v. 13. Wherefore let him that speak- 
eth in an unknown tongue, pray that he may interpret, v. 19. 
Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 49 

understanding, that by my voice T might teach others also, 
than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue." The 
apostle, dear sir, certainly understood ibe matter well, and 
I know well, that he was right; for the German worship 
edified me much more than the Latin mass, which I do not 
understand. 

Henry was taken by surprise ; they all asked him where 
and how he had procured that book ; — Antonio related the 
whole story; the parents, particularly the father, were pleas- 
with the sound understanding of the young man, and ex- 
horted him to read the word of God diligently, which would 
be of great advantage to him. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE RELATION OP TRE EOMirf? CHUPCn TO THE DESTGN OFCRRIPTI- 
ANITY— THE RELATION OF THE PK< I'lTIATOKY FT^CRAMEKTS TO 
CHRISTIAN VIRTUE— PRIESTLY ALSOLUTION, JOHN xx. 23; MATT. 
XTiii. IS. 

The evening gave occasion to recommence the conver*- 
cation on the subject of the change of Henry's religious 
principles. The father reminded them, that they had agreed 
to proceed at once to the main point, and discuss the ques- 
tion, in what relation the Evangelical as well as the Romish 
church stood to the design of Christianity ? They seated 
themselves socially at the table, and before the conversation 
began, the mother secured the son against any probable 
ebullition of the father's passion. "Look upon your son, 
(said she) not as an apostate from our church, but as a Ro- 
manist from his birth, whom you desire to convert to the 
Evangelical church." This idea, the father also thought, 
would create tenderness and patience in his heart, which 
waa already well disposed, and at the same time it awaken- 
5 



50 HENEY AND ANTONIO, 

ed the hope, as he expressed it, that Henry would again 
find in his father's house that understanding, which he had 
lost in Rome. He also agreed to a suggestion which Wil- 
helmina made, that in quoting scripture passages they should 
use Van Ess's translation that all possible impartiality might 
be shown towards Henry. 

They all soon agreed, that the object of Jesus was, to be 
the Saviour of men ; for this his very name, Jesus, implies. 
They also agreed, that he became a Saviour of men in this, 
that he redeemed and delivered them from sin. For thus 
they read in Matt, i- ill. "And she shall bring forth a son, 
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his 
people from their sins." But when they discussed the ques- 
tion, how Jesus became a Saviour, and what must take place 
in the hearts of men to secure this salvation, then they dif- 
fered in opinion. After a long conversation, they agreed 
to adhere to the declaration of the apostle Paul, for he cer- 
tainly must have known what effect Christianity was intended 
to have on the heathen to whom he preached it, and in what 
manner Jesus was to become to them a Saviour. He thus 
writes, Tit. ii. 11 — 14. The grace of God (in Christ) that 
bringeth salvation, hath appeared unto all men ; teaching us 
that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live 
soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world; look- 
ing for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the 
great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself 
for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify 
unto himself a peculiar people, zealoas of good works. 
These things speak and exhort." 

The parties agreed, that here the apostle represents Jesus 
as a Saviour, not only from the punishment of sin, but that he 
reforms men and redeems them from the service of sin, and 
that his object, consequently the object of Christianity, was, 
to lead men to a knowledge of God and his law, to excite 
thera to the obedience of that law, or to virtue, and to se- 
cure for them, as thus reformed, the grace of God and eter- 
nal life. 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 5X 

This is, s?iid Henry, precisely the doctrine of the Catho- 
lic church, and thus far it agrees with that o( the Evangeli- 
cal church. But I maintain, that in order to accomplish 
this object in the case of individual chiistians, just such an 
institution as the Catholic church is necessary, and that 
on the other hand, this object cannot be fulfilled by means 
of such an organization as the Evangelical church presents. 
The peculiarities of the Catholic church, v/hich determine 
this matter, and in which she principally differs from the 
Evangelical, are the following. In her alone redemption 
can be found, for she was instituted by Christ and the apos- 
tles, and consequently, is. the true church ; she.alone pos- 
sesses the means of an infiillibly correct knowledge of 
christian doctrine, a legitimate and valid priesthood, and 
therefore regularly consecrated, and lawfully appointed to 
teach and administer the sacraments ; a legitimate arbiter of 
church government, (the Pope) and means of grace not de- 
pendent on the state of the mind in order to secure to be- 
lievers the forgiveness of sin and eternal salvation. Hence 
she alone can fulfil the object of Christianity, and redeem 
men from sin." 

Father. — You say a great deal at once, dear Henry. 
We will consider it hereafter. I grant that your church 
has very many means to release men from the punishment 
of sin, but I maintain that for this very reason, she is alto- 
gether incompetent to deliver them from the domi7non of sin. 
As she is continually absolving men from punishment, she 
does not wean them from sin, but rather encourao^es them in 
immorality. 

Henry. — But the Catholic church demands penance and 
contrition of all who desire to receive the benefit of her 
means of grace. 

Father. — I know that well enough; but men are not 
yet thereby reformed ! If a sinner does not perform the 
promised penance, but continues to sin on, can he again 
be absolved, if he goes to confession ? 



52 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

Henry. — Certainly, if he again promises penance. For 
the holy council of Trent teaches, very expressly, (in the 
14th session,) "Sinners can be absolved by the priest not 
only once, but as often as they penitently go to him." 

Father. — But if he does not reform, and although often 
absolved by the priest, sins on until his death, will his last 
confession on his death bed, and the last absolution, or ex- 
treme unction secure salvation for him ? 

Henry. — Undoubtedly ; herein consists the extent of 
priestly power, that they, so long as body and soul are not 
separated, can yet bring the sinner into a state of grace. 

Father. — Then you grant, my son, that your priests ab- 
solve the unreformed. Then if a man, though often promis- 
ing reformation, yet never reforms, can be assured of the 
pardon of God and eternal life through the repeated abso- 
lution of the priest until his dying hour, it follows that re- 
formation is not necessary to eternal life, but only occasion- 
al advice on the subject. In my view this is precisely as 
if the masters of a trade would certify that he was a travel- 
led journeyman, who ten times pretended to set out on his 
tour, but always turned back at the gate of the city.* 

Henry. — But, dear father, God also forgives as often as 
the sinner reforms, and the example of the thief on the 
cross shows, that sinners can receive pardon even on a 
dying bed, if they feel sincere contrition. So the Catholic 
priest only forgives those who truly repent, for the council 
of Trent says expressly, (14th session,) that the penitent 
must exhibit ''a proper state of mind." 

Father. — The sincere penitent, according to the scrip- 
tures, will certainly never find the way of grace closed 
against him. But the difference is this, that we direct him 
to the infallible God, the searcher of hearts, and tell him, 
that sorrow for sin which proceeds merely from fear of pun- 
ishment, is not true and evangelical repentance, and can- 

*Every journeyman in Germany is obliged by law to travel and work 
in tbc principal towns and cities, before he can establish himself i« 
business — [Tr. 



OR THE PROSELYTES. ^ 53 

not be acceptable to God, but that alone which arises from 
an internal hatred of sin, exhibited in abandoning sin, is well 
pleasing in his sight; but you direct the sinner to a fallible 
priest, who cannot see the heart, or know whether that 
" proper state of mind " exists, or at least can only be as- 
sured by the word and behaviour of the penitent, and yet 
absolves, which, as you think, is so powerful, that it will be 
always valid before God. Our ministers when they absolve 
those who confess, do not forgive their sins, but only de- 
clare to them the divine promise of pardon, console them 
by the assurances of the grace of God, only upon the con- 
dition, however, of sincere repentance.* But with you, the 
efficacy of absolution, as well as of all the sacraments, de- 
pends not on the moral character of the christian, but on 
the power of the priest, and the service operates as you 
say, ex opere operato, that is, if it i« only performed. 

Henry. — That is a great advantage of Catholic absolu- 
tion, that its efficacy depends on the priest and his service, 
and not on the moral character and disposition of the peni- 
tent. The priest demands the external evidences of repent- 
ance, if he sees these, he absolves, and if he absolves then 
it is efficacious. 

Father. — You perfectly establish what I said. In order 
to be saved, you require nothing more than a mere verbal 
acknowledfi^ment of sin, or the "external evidences" of "a 
proper state of mind," upon which this efficacious absolution 
always follows. The journeyman need not even buckle his 
knapsack nor go beyond the city gate, but only repeatedly 
promise that he will travel, and it is just as good as if he had 

•In the Lutheran churches, on the day the special service preparato- 
ry to the Lord's Supper is performed, the minister propounds several 
questions to the communicants, to which they respond in an audible 
Toice. This is called the confession. The minister then says, "Upon 
this humble confession, &c. 1 declare to you all, who have sincerely 
repented of your sins, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the divine 
promise of the forgiveness of your transgression in the name of th« 
Father, &c. &c."— [Tr. 

5» 



54 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

travelled. This is very convenient for persons of high and 
low degree, who indeed wish to die happy, but also wish to 
spend their whole lives in dissipation. In what sense then 
does your Catholic church redeem men from sin? She for- 
gives your sins without end, and secures you from the pun- 
ishment of them in eternity, without it being at all necessa- 
ry that you should be delivered from the dominion of sin. 
You can tranquilly indulge your lusts and desires all your 
days; the priest who carries the keys of heaven will with- 
out fail unlock the gates for you in your dying hour. Do 
you not see, that thus the genuine reformation of men is 
really superfluous, and that your church does not promote 
the object of Christianity, which is, first to reform men and 
make them new creatures in Christ Jesus, and then only to 
promise them forgiveness and eternal life. Is it not plain, 
that the Romish church is an institution which delivers men 
not from the dominion of sin, but rather lulls the consciences 
of sinners to sleep, and yet after all by the power of the 
priest, conveys the most depraved to heaven? Do you think 
there is any thing great and efficacious in this priestly 
power? — no, no, my son, it is destructive of all morality ! 

Henry. — I must freely grant, that the Catholic doctrine 
of the efficacy of priestly absolution and the sacraments, 
may greatly tend to encourage the sinner in transgression ; 
but yet we also insist strongly on christian reformation. 

Father. — But all that will be fruitless, if the sinner be- 
lieves that the priest can at any time forgive him all, and 
that his absolution must be acknowledged as valid by God. 
Thus most manifestly you make God submissive to the 
priests, whose declarations he must obey, even when they 
absolve men whom God's righteousness could not absolve, 
or when they refuse absolution to men, whom the grace of 
God would certainly forgive. It is truly foolish and shock- 
ing at the same time, that in your church men teach and 
believe that God has surrendered his judgment into the hands 
of fallible priests, who have to contend with their own pas- 
sions, and yet, who according to their own contracted view* 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 55 

and tho ever changing emotions of the human mind, can be- 
stow grace or invoke wrath, and consequently, eternal salva- 
tion or everlasting misery upon their brethren. Forgiveness 
is a transaction between the divine love and the heart of the 
sinner. The sinful priest dare not interfere between them, 
and prescribe to the love of God, whose sins should be for- 
given, and whose should be retained. This is superstition, 
in which God is made an idol, which draws away the heart 
of the sinner from God and fixes it upon man, the priest. 

Mother. — In this your father is perfectly right, dear 
Henry. O listen not to the voice of a priesthood, which 
would prescribe rules and usages to the divine righteousness, 
what is proper to be done and what to be left undone; but 
hear the voice of the Saviour and his apostles, who promise 
no man admission into the kingdom of heaven, who is not 
truly reformed and leads a pious life. Does not your Sa- 
viour say, John iii. 3. "Except a man be born again, he 
cannot see the kingdom of God ; " and does being "born 
again" mean, confessing to the priest or undergoing pen- 
ance? Hear how the apostle Paul explains this new birth. 
He says, (Ephes. iv. 21, &c.) "If so be that ye have heard 
him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus; 
That ye put off concerning the former conversation, the 
old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 
and be renewed in the spirit of your mind ; and that ye put 
on the new man, which after God is created in righteous- 
ness and true holiness." The apostle Peter also, whose 
successor the Pope pretends to be, demands of christians 
the reformation of their whole life, and is not satisfied with 
contrition and penances. "As obedient children, he writes 
(I Pet. i. 14.) not fashioning yourselves according to the 
former lusts in your ignorance ; but as he which calleth you 
is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation." 

Henry. — But, dear mother, the Catholic church insists 
equally as much as the Evangelical on true holiness of life. 
She only maintains, that Christ gave to the priesthood the 
power of absolving sinners, so soon as they manifest con- 



55 UENRT AND ANTONIO, 

trition. For the word of the Lord, (John xx. 23.) which 
he spake to his disciples, certainly empowers the priesthood, 
who are the successors of the apostles, to forgive or to retain 
Bins. "Receive ye the Holy Ghost ! whose soever sins ye 
remit, they are remitted unto them ; and wKose soever sins 
ye retain, they are retained." Or is it not plain enough, 
when the Saviour says, Matt, xviii. 18. "Verily, I say unto 
you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in 
heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be 
loosed in heaven." Here there is no escape; here you 
must unavoidably acknowledge that the priesthood has the 
power of unlocking lieaven, and delivering men from the 
punishment of sin. 

Father. — You are altogether wrong, my son. As it re- 
spects the latter passage, the sense is plain enough from its 
connection with the two j)receding verses, 15 — 17, in 
which the apostles are instructed how they shall act, not 
when they hear confession, for that they did not do, but 
when they had contentious and troublesome persons in the 
church. They were first to admonish such privately and 
then in the presence of several witnesses. '^And if he ne- 
glect to hear thee, (he says in v. 17,) tell it unto the church, 
let him be unto thee as a heathen man and publican : verily 
I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, &c." 
Here, my son, you see plainly, that the Saviour only says, 
that it will be valid before him and his Heavenly Father, 
when the church excludes from her communion an unwor- 
thy and persevering sinner, or again receives him. There 
is no reference at all to forgiveness of sins before God, or 
to release from punishment in eternity, but only to exclu- 
sion from, or restoration to the christian communion. 

Henry. — I see plainly that the connection of the words 
perfectly justifies your explanation of this passage. But 
how is it with the other? In that forgiveness of sins is ex- 
pressly mentioned ! 

Father. — That is true, but it proves nothing, for the ab- 
•olution of the priesthood. I believe, and many learned 



OB THE PBOSELYTE3. 5<7 

men of our church, for instance, Rciuhard, Morus and 
many others, who highly venerated the bible, also believed 
that here "the forgiveness of sins" is to be understood of 
the miraculous cures, which the apostles after the exam- 
ple of Christ were to effect by the power of the Holy Ghost. 
According to Matt. ix. 2. John ix. 2, diseases were consid- 
ered as punishments of sins, so that a miraculous cure could 
be regarded as a forgiveness of sins, inasmuch as the punish- 
ment then ceased. Thus Jesus often says to the sick whom 
he healed ; "thy sins are forgiven, — sm no more, lest a 
worse thing come upon thee! " You will find an example 
in Acts, ch. iii. where Peter healed a lame man, and ac- 
knowledged, V. 12, that he did not "make this man well by 
his own power or holiness" but God through him. 

Henry. — Although your explanation is plausible, yet in 
my view, it is too far fetched to convince me. 

Father." — I will not force it on you, my son. But even 
if this "forgiving sins" is to be understood of pardon be- 
fore God, it still proves nothing for priestly absolution in 
confession. Where does Jesus say in this passage, that ab- 
solution can be received more than once — that it can be re- 
peated at every confession ? He does not even at all say, 
that forgiveness of sins is such an external act, which can 
be repeated at the pleasure of the priest. Without forcing 
a meaning the words can be thus interpreted ; whomever 
ye pardon for what they have done against me and the king- 
dom of God, and re-admit into my church, them will I also 
pardon. At any rate, the passage affords not the least 
ground to justify the repeated absolution of sinful men. For 
John i. Ep. iii. 5, 6, expects and demands of christians that 
they sin no more habitually, and of course need no absolution, 
"And ye know that he was manifested to take away our 
sins; and in him is no sin ; whoever abideth in him sinneth 
not; whosoever sinneth, hath not seen him, neither known 
him." But the saine apostle directs christians, if they sin, 
not to piiestly absolution but to God and Christ. He thus 
writes, i. Ep. i. 9, *'lf we confess our sins, he is faithful and 



5p DENRY AND ANTOrCTO, 

just to forgive us ouisins," ch. ii. 1. And if any man sin, wo 
have an advocate witli the Father, Jesus Clirist, the risrhte- 
ous." Finally, dear son, you must certainly acknowledge 
that in both the passages under discussion, the Saviour is 
speaking to his apostles only, and that consequently, che 
power which lie bestows upon them, whatever be its nature, 
is only personal. That they could confer this power on 
others, yea, tha>it is at all communicable, is not established 
by a single word. 

Henry. — But the words of the Saviour to his apostles at 
the last supper ; "this do in remembrance of me," the evan- 
gelical church considers as a command to all christians in 
every age; why then should not the power of forgiving sins 
also be extended to the successois of the apostles? 

Father. — Your conclusion is very singular, my son; it is 
this; if one command given to the apostles is binding on all 
christians, then all the other commands are equally binding 
on all christians. If that were so, why is it that your priests 
alone forgive the sins of the laity? Then each layman could 
forgive another, and a layman could also forgive the sins of 
a priest. These words, "this do in remembrance of me," 
as they were addressed to the apostles, would not of them- 
selves, afford us any ground for the celebration of the Lord's 
supper. But they would not only, because it is the duty of 
every christian gratefully to commemorate the death of Je- 
sus and thus follow the example of the apostles, but also on 
this account, because we see from the New Testament, that 
the apostles established that ordinance at the same time for all 
other christians, and that immediately after the death of Jc 
sus, by their direction it was introduced into the churches. 
But the power of forgiving sins, if it were really conferred 
on the apostles, was in its nature not capable of being com- 
municated to all christians, or any portion of them. We 
read not a single word about it, that the apostles conferred 
it on others ; and often as the rights and privileges of elders or 
Bishops are extensively mentioned in the New Testament, 
not the slightest intimation is given, that they had the pow- 



OR TDE PROSELYTES. 59 

er and should exercise it, of forgiving sins. We know 
moreover from ecclesiastical history (with which every edu- 
cated christian should make himself acquainted) that con- 
fession and absolution had their origin in the church peni' 
fence, which those who had been excommunicated were 
obliged to submit to. 

Henry. — And what was that? 

Father. — Those whose lives were irregular, and gave 
offence to the church were excluded, and were obliged, if 
they wished to be restored, not only to confess their sins 
puJ)licly before the whole congregation, but submit to 
certain penances, or exhibit external signs of the sin- 
cerity of their repentance. Thus it was in the early cen- 
turies. But as the churches were multiplied, especially 
when by the conversion of the emperors, Christianity spread 
through the whole Roman empire at the beginning of the 
fourth century, this public confession and penitence was 
gradually changed for a private one before the bishop and his 
ministers, and absolution, as well as remittance of the pen- 
ances, followed from these alone.* In the progress of time 
your auricular confession grew out of this, and this extended 
to all sins, even the most secret. Absolution no longer re- 
ferred to the pardon of the church, but to the forgiveness ol 
sins before God, and release from punishment in eternity. 
This is the origin of your confession and absolution, and 
what the Romish church still maintains concerning the valid 

•A new^ method also of proceeding with penitents was introduced 
into the Latin church. For grievous offenders, who had formerly been 
obHged to confess their guilt in the face of the congregation, were now 
delivered from this mortifying penalty, and obtained from Leo the Great 
a permission to eon/ess their crimes privately to a priest appointed for 
that purpose. By this change of the ancient discipline, one of the 
greatest restraints upon the licentiousness, and the only remaining bar- 
rier of chastity, was entirely removed, and the actions of Christiana 
were subject to no other scrutiny than that of the clergy, a chango 
which was frequently convenient for the sinner, and also advantageous 
in many respects to the sacred order. 

Moslieim. Cent, v. ch. 4. part. iii. — (Ta ) 



go nENRY AND ANTONIO, 

authority of priestly absolution is altogether an abuse and a 
wretched imposition. 

Henry. — Pardon me, dear father, if I call into question 
this recount of the origin of the sacrament of penance. 
The holy council of Trent expressly says ; (14th session, 
ch. 5, of Penance.) "As secret sacramental confession is 
recommended with great unanimity by the holiest and most 
ancient fathers of the church, and was practiced by the holy 
church from the beginning, it is a calumny, when men are 
not afraid to aver, that it has no divine authority, but is only 
a human invention, and was first established by the Lateran 
council." 

Father. — In this matter the holy council is undoubtedly 
in error. I will leave you to read through the writings of 
the holiest and most ancient fathers of the church, such aa 
Hermes, Ignatius, Clemens of Rome, Tertullian, Clemens 
of Alexandria, and even the Apostolical constitutions,* and 
wait to see whether you can find a single passage which 
confirms the Romish Auricular Confession. They all treat 
merely of the penitence which the lapsed and the excommu- 
nicated were obliged to show before the bishop and the 
other ministers, and refer the words "whatsoever ye shall 
bind on earth, shall also be bound in heaven," &lc exclu- 
sively to the right of excommunicating unworthy members 
from the church, and of restoring penitents. But they say 
not a word in favor of the doctrine of your church, that the 
priest has power to release sinners from the punishment of 
the future world, t 

Henry. — Good ; dear father, I will read those works, and 
will give you notice of the result. 

•The eight books of the Apostolical Constitutions are the work of 
some austere and melancholy author, who having taken it into his head 
to reform the christian worship, which he looked upon as degenerated 
from its original purity, made no scruple to prefix to his rules the names 
of the apostles, that thus they might be more speedily and favorably re- 
ceived. Moshtim, cent. 1. ch. ii. sec. 19. — [Ta. 

fSee Appendix No. 1. 



OR THE PROSELYTES. gj 

Father. — That will be of great benefit to you, for you 
will find that in this point, as well as in many others, the oft 
repeated confident assertion of the Romish theologians, 
that the ancient church taught the doctrines of the present 
Romish church, is altogether without foundation. 

Mother. — As respects myself, I do not care for your 
learned investigations, but adhere in all simplicity to the de- 
clarations of the Saviour and his apostles. In them I have 
never yet read a word of the sacramental confession and 
priestly absolution. According to the scriptures, the justi- 
fication of a sinner is a much more simple affair. I no where 
find that God, who as the searcher of hearts, alone can per- 
form the office of an Almighty Judge, has surrendered it to 
sinful men, who might spare him the trouble of judging and 
forgiving. The prodigal son (Luke xv. 12.) simply returns 
to his father and prays for forgiveness, and the father re- 
ceives him with open arms, without first having him absolved 
by the priest. And where the Lord describes the judgment 
(Matt. XXV. 31, &.C.) which he himself will hold and will 
surrender to no priest, he only asks whether they fed the 
hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, clothed the naked, but not 
whether they were absolved and anointed with oil before 
they died. On this word of my Lord I rely more securely 
than upon all the indulgences and absolutions of men. 

Father. — Your mother has come to the point, my son. 
It is certainly clear, that God cannot resign his office as 
judge to sinful men, who themselves need grace andoannot 
see the heart, and that as respects the "binding and loosing" 
of the priesthood, it refers only to the excommunication and 
restoration of church members, that is, to their pardon before 
men. But it is equally clear, that the Saviour is not satisfied 
"that a man at confession should be in a proper state of 
mind," and be absolved, but that he demands the whole life 
devoted to piety; but nothing more. 

Henry. — I confess that I am at a loss how to answer 
you. But do not overwhelm me ; gire me time to think of 
6 



^ HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

he matter more thoroughly; perhaps it will become dearer 
to me. 

Father. — With great pleasure, my son ; only seek the 
truth honestly. 



CHAPTER VII. 



IIIXED MARRIAGE— THE CONDEMNATION OF HERETICS— WHAT IS 
DEMANDED IN ORDER TO OBTAIN ETERNAL LIFE. 

The next evening Henry acknowledged that he had not 
yet found an answer to the arguments of yesterday, and 
begged that they might in the mean time proceed to some 
other subject. The father observed, that it would be well if 
Wilhelmina's intended husband (he was lately settled as 
assistant minister in L) also took part in these discussions, 
especially that he might afford his aid in those parts which 
related to church history and biblical interpretation. Henry 
had no objections, but still observed, that then the parties 
would be unequal, for he had no one on his side. The father 
remarked, that Henry also possessed the advantages of a 
knowledge of the ancient languages, of history and philo- 
gophy. At the same time he promised, that the young min- 
ister would only be appealed to when he and the mother 
found it necessary. Henry was satisfied, and the father 
sportively asked, whether Wilhelmina had anything against 
it. "1 shall be much pleased, she replied, to have an oppor- 
tunity now, of forming some idea of the extent of Bern- 
hard's learning, for our conversations have not been of the 
scholastic order. I will only beg, however, that Henry is 
not to make a Romanist of him; for then, much as I love 
him, I would most certainly not marry him." 

Henry — (Feelingly) — what intemperate zeal! Cannot 
then a Catholic be an amiable man, and worthy of your af- 



OR THE PROSELYTES. '|g3 

fections? Does love inquire about confessions of faith? You 
do not marry the confession of a man, but himself. 

WiLHELMiNA. — Yes, but dear brother, because I wish to 
have the whole man, soul and body, his confession of faith 
is to me a very important matter. Whether men can ex- 
plain what love is, that the philosophers may settle. I know 
it not. Bernhnrd told me, that an old philosopher was of 
opinion, that the soul originally was divided into two halves, 
which sought each other in life, and when they found each 
other, united into one. This explanation does not appear 
to me to be wrong, for there is such an elective affinity of 
souls in true love, in which not only the hand and ring are 
given, but also the heart. But a Romanist and an Evangel- 
ical soul, if each is faithful to its creed, must repel each 
other; for the former regards the latter as sunk in ruinous 
error, and the latter holds the former as obscured by narrow 
prejudices, and filled with a superstitious fear of the power 
of the priesthood. How shall they be one.? Either they re- 
pel each other, or the one draws the other over to its faith. 

Henry. — You contradict all experience, dear sister. In 
countries of promiscuous faith, you also find promiscuous^ 
marriages very numerous, and they agree happily. 

Wilhelmina. — That may be. I am only speaking my 
own sentiments, according to which such a marriage can 
only be agreeable in case one party or both are either irreli- 
gious, or indifferent, or unfeeling, and the marriage only re- 
garded as a civil contract, or entered into for the sake of 
fortune and place, or — and this may often be the cas€ — if 
the Romish party does not believe all that the priests have 
established as articles of faith and is in heart a Protestant. 

Henry. — But why cannot the faith of both churches be 
endured in matrimony? Cannot one party leave the other 
in the undisturbed enjoyment of his faith.? 

Wilhelmina. — The Protestant can well think so, but not 
the Romanist. The latter, because your church declares all 
heretics as eternally cursed, cannot cease trying to con- 
vert his or her Protestant partner to the Romish faith, and 



Q^ HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

must be sadly troubled if this is not accomplished. How 
can the Romanist be one heart and one soul with another 
devoted to eternal misery ? 

Mother. — I agree perfectly with Wilhelmina; especially 
as it respects the education of children. Each party will 
wish to have the children brought up to his or her confes- 
sion, and must wish it if they are true to the faith of their 
church. It will be intolerable to the evan^relical partv, and 
an everlasting thorn in the heart, if the children are seen 
brought up to a blind faith, to convictions, which are regard- 
ed as erroneous, to practices, which must be considered as 
superstitious. Equally intolerable must it be to the Romish 
party, if it is seen that the children are instructed in soul 
destroying error, and led directly down to the bottomless 
pit. There can be no peace there. That which pleases 
the one saddens the other; that which is cheerina to the 
one fills the other with despair. That person alone can be 
contented in such a situation, who is totally indifferent 
about Christianity and religion. 

Father. — You will not take it ill, Henry, if I also utter 
precisely the same sentiments. It would be intolerable to 
rae, if I had a wife, who with superstitious anxiety, would 
run away to mass, when she should attend to her children 
at home ; who would pray to the saints, when she should be 
thinking of God ; who would conscientiously tattle to the 
confessor all the secrets of matrimony ; who would mortify 
herself by fasting and penance ; who would sympathise 
with me as a miserable and accursed heretic; whom, as the 
secret confederate of proselyting priests, I would always 
have to watch, lest the children might be seduced to Ro- 
manism ; with whom on the Lord's day and other festivals, 
I could not go to the same church ; by whom, finally, [ 
would always be secretly tormented about taking care of 
my soul's salvation according to her opinion, and becoming 
3, Romanist. 

Henry. — 0, dear father, how black you paint this affair ! 
I do not believe that experience will establish your posi- 
tions. 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 65 

Father.— That you only say, because you as yet have 
no experience. Only read the Romish writings, and you 
will every where find proof, that your priests enforce it as a 
conscientious duty on the Catholic party in marriage, to 
bring up all the children in the Catholic faith. They de- 
mand this promise when about to solemnize a promiscuous 
marriage, and will perform the rite for no couple, who do 
not make this promise ; they absolve no man or woman at 
confession, if they do not promise to exert themselves to 
the utmost, to lead their children to the Romish church. 
And this is not only done by a few of the most zealous, but 
by all ; they are so instructed, they must do it, agreeably to 
the directions of the Pope. 

Henry. — You are certainly wrong in this matter, dear 
father. Then the father of the christian world, the Pope, 
must regard Protestants not as christians, though they are 
his children, yet straying, but as heathen, and as it were, 
infected with the plague. 

Father. — My poor son, how little you know of your 
own church ! (He brings a book, "Authentic Correspon- 
dence of the court of Rome and the French government, 
translated into German, by Kassler, 1814,'' and read the 
following, on page 158, from a circular of the former Pope, 
dated Feb. 27th, 1809, to the French priesthood.) "Several 
among you have prayed me to bestow upon you the power 
of granting liberty to such persons to marry, one of whom 
acknowledges the Catholic faith, and the other holds to a 
heretical doctrine. But I believe it is known to you that the 
true Catholic church has always disapproved of marriages 
with heretics ; for the church abhors them, as my predeces- 
sor, Pope Clemens XI. said, on account of the great sin, 
and the no small danger of the soul which they occa- 
sion, and almost on the same grounds that she has for- 
bidden the marriage of christians with unbelievers, has sh^ 
also discouraged Catholics from marrying heretics, because 
it is not a pious act. Hence it is very much to be regretted 
that there should be among Catholics any, who are so led 
6* 



^ HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

away by shameful passion, as not to be shocked at such 
marriages so highly to be disapproved of, which the holy 
mother, the church, has always reprobated and forbidden. 
For besides the great danger of a perverted mind which the 
Catholic party is exposed to, and that the child which is to 
be brought up cannot under these circumstances be well enough 
attended to, it is also very difficult to live together in domes- 
tic concord, without being united in faith." 

What the Pope here says of the discord which is created 
by these intermarriages is very true, and it should determine 
a prudent Protestant not to marry a person of the Catholic 
faith, because the principles of the Catholic party would 
prevent every thing like domestic harmony. You also see 
from this, my son, that your church abhors such marriages, 
and that the apprehension that the Catholic party, and the 
children could not be sufficiently guarded against the in- 
fluence of Protestant principles, induces Catholic priests 
to exert all their efforts in the conversion of the Protestant 
party, or at least the children : Hence, they are at liberty to 
solemnize such a marriage only upon the condition, that 
the children (yet to be born,) be brought up to the Catholic 
church. This you may learn from a proclamation of the 
king of Prussia, dated March 2d, 1819, in which he declar« 
ed, that the conduct of the Romish clergy (in the Rhine 
provinces) in requiring a promise, that Catholic persons 
who wish to marry Protestants should bring up the children 
of both sexes to the Catholic religion," is not to be allowed. 
This is proof sufficient, that in such a marriage the Pro- 
testant party can have no peace. You also see, that the 
father of the christian world, as you call the Pope, regards 
us as nothing better than heathen and infected with a 
plague, in whose company a good Catholic must be "shock- 
ed" because of our daring impiety, and amongst whom he 
exposes his "soul to no small danger." And what is it 
that makes us such abominable beings ? Do we deny Christ? 
Do we allow or connive at licentiousness? Do we refuse 
obedience to the government ? Nothing of all these ! we 



OR THE PROSELYTES. (J-y 

only do not believe in the Pope, nor in the power of the 
priests, nor in the seven sacraments, nor in the mass and 
the efficacy of holy water. Is this sufficient ground to re- 
gard good christians, who strive after the example of Christ 
to be perfect in love, as worthy of abhorrence, as destroyers 
of souls, as nothing better than heathen ? But all this pro- 
ceeds from your uncharitable principles, which irretrievably 
condemn all to everlasting death, who do not believe in the 
Pope and the priesthood, and this principle your clergy 
have established only because in il they find the surest sup- 
port of their power. 

Henry. — I must confess, that this rigor of their princi- 
ples on mixed marriages was unknown to me, and that I do 
not feel inclined to justify them. But as respects the sen- 
tence of condemnation, which the Catholic church declares 
against all heretics, and consequently all Protestants, that 
is certainly true ; she excludes them all from eternal salva- 
tion, and absolutely recognizes no grace for them. It was 
this severe condemnation which particularly brought me to 
a stand, when I first adopted the Catholic faith ; my heart 
thought of you! It was equally as impossible for me to con- 
demn you, as to regard you as condemned. After a long 
conversation with my friend Rossi, on this subject, he at 
length solved the difficulty which harrassed me, and my 
mind was restored to peace. The Catholic church, said he, 
as the only true church, — the only one instituted by Christ, 
must hold every other church establishment as false; and 
as the scriptures teach that only those who belong to the 
kingdom of Christ, or to the church will be saved, she 
must consequently declare all who are not Catholics, as 
damned. But in doing this, she only maintains her dignity 
and value. Still she does not deny, that God according to 
his grace may also bestow eternal salvation upon individual 
christians of other church communions, who are particu- 
larly pious and zealous in doing good. But yet she cannot 
determine this, nor establish it as an article of faith, for it 
is dependent on the extraordinary grace of God. The 



(5Q HENRY AND ANTON [O, 

church does not know what God will do; she only knows 
that agreeably to the way of salvation which God has pub- 
lished, he who is out of the church is also out of salvation, 
and this she acknowledges ; the secret counsel of God re- 
specting the salvation of men, who are out of the church, 
she commits to the divine grace, and avoids a positive de- 
claration about it, partly because she knows nothing about 
it, and partly because such a declaration would only tend 
to confirm men in their folly and error. 

Father. — Your objection to the position does honor to 
your heart, but your acquiescence finally in this distinction 
speaks but little for the soundness of your head. Where 
has your church granted liberty for such a private opinion ? 
Whatever your church, or rather the priests, as the lords and 
tutors of the church teach, that you as a layman must be- 
lieve, consequently you must believe that we are all damned; 
for this your church teaches most expressly. She does not 
allow any private opinion; for that is heresy, when a per- 
son maintains any opinion, which is different from the unal- 
terably established doctrines of the church. Your friend 
Rossi deceived you. He never would have dared to declare 
publicly what he told you privately. If private opinion is 
allowed in one, must it not be allowed in others ? Could you 
entertain a different opinion from the church on the sacra- 
ments, the power of the priests, or purgatory, without being 
a heretic? 

Henry. — It is true, that liberty of opinion does not ex- 
tend so far. 

Father. — Then you see that the professed liberty of 
thinking what you please about the damnation of heretics 
as only b. pretended one, which your church condemns and 
must condemn. The Romish catechism says expressly, 
"As this is a church (the Romish church) which cannot 
err, because she is guided by the Holy Ghost ; then it fol- 
lows that all other professed churches are guided by the spirn. 
of the devil and maintain the most corrupting errors both of 
faith and practice,^' 



on THE PROSELYTES. g9 

Mother. — Can you really believe, dear Henry, that God 
will condemn a man, because he rather trusts Christ and his 
declarations than the Pope, the apostles rather than bish- 
ops, the doctrines of the New Testament rather than the 
decrees of your councils ? Only read how simply our Saviour 
declares, what is necessary for eternal life. He says, John 
xvii. .3, "And this is life £ternal; that they might know 
thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast 
sent." Further, John iii. 36, "He that believeth in the Son 
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not in the Son, 
shall not see life." And in ch. v. 24. ''Verily, verily, I say 
unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him 
that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into 
condemnation; but is passed from death into life." See, 
my dearest son, how consoling this simple word of the 
Lord is to the christian. He demands nothing else than 
faith in the true God, in himself, as the messenger of God, 
and obedience to his moral commandments. He no where 
demands faith in the artificial doctrines, which councils and 
Popes have established, and which the unlearned, and per- 
haps also the learned, cannot understand. It has always 
thrilled me to read in Acts xvi. 25, &c. about the jailor that 
came trembling to Paul and fell at his feet, asking, "what 
must I do to be saved?" Who immediately answered, "Be- 
lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved and 
thy house." Either Paul deceived him, or faith in the 
Pope, the priesthood, the mass, purgatory and other things 
are not necessary to salvation, and your priests condemn us 
with most uncharitable injustice.* 

Father. — Just so, precisely. For we believe as you do, 
in one true God, and in Jesus Christ, whom he has sent. 
Both these doctrines are founded in the apostolical, the Ni- 
cene, and Athanasian creeds; and these our church has 
also adopted, so that in these points we have your doctrine 
precisely. If Jesus in John xvii. 3, distinguishes these two 
points, as those which men must believe in order to be 

*See Appendix No, 3. 



70 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

saved ; then you make Christ a deceiver, when you would 
eternally condemn us on account of other doctrines, which 
your priests have established. Verily we do not need your 
affected sympathy, when you say that God may perhaps 
save a few of us, by his unrevealed and uncovenanted grace. 
We know certainly, that we will be saved, if we obey the 
word of God. 

Henry. — I must acknovvledire the force of that declara- 
lion of Christ. But there is something still, which prevents 
me from agreeing with you entirely. It impressed me deep- 
ly when Rossi first introduced it, — it is this, there can be 
but one true church, that this is the Roman Catholic church, 
and that consequently, salvation can be found in her com- 
munion alone. 

Father. — That subject we will discuss when we meet 
again, and invite the presence of Bernhard. In the mean 
time, my son, believe this firmly, that your church does not 
thereby serve the object of Christianity, which in general 
is, to make men moral, when she without respect to their 
moral character condemns all who do not believe her doc- 
trines, and thus makes salvation depend merely on opinions 
of faith and the observance of certain practices. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

ANTONIO— MATT. xix. 16, 19 —INFLUENCE OF THE CATHOLIC SACRA- 
MENTS IN COMPOSING AND COMFORTING THE MIND. 

The next morning whilst Antonio was performing his duties 
in his master's room, he gradually led the conversation to the 
subject of the bible, and finally asked Henry whether he had 
ever read the New Testament. When Henry replied that 
he had been acquainted with it from his youth, Antonio ex- 
pressed his great joy, and added, that he hoped Henry 



OR THE PROSELYTES, ^J 

would now answer several questions, which for some time 
had been revolving in his mind. "No religious scruples, I 
hope?" asked Henry, with a degree of ill humor. "Yes, 
they are," answered Antonio. I find not a word about so 
many things, which from my youth up I have been taught 
to consider as essential to Christianity, that I really am very 
doubtful whether every thing is true, whoever may have in- 
troduced it. You would very much oblige me, by giving 
me some information on these points, which you, as a gen- 
tleman of education, and certainly well instructed in your 
youth, are so well qualified to do. 

Henry. — You ask too much of me, Antonio. I was ed- 
ucated in my youth for the Lutheran church, and have been 
a member of the Orthodox Roman Church but one year. 
I am myself but a young convert, — I am yet learning and 
I cannot solve your difficulties on all these points. 

Antonio. — I well know that you became a Catholic only 
last year. You then made a real leap of it. I have all the 
trouble in the world to continue a Catholic, and I wish that 
you would help me. That you must certainly be able to do, 
inasmuch as all that now disturbs me must have occurred to 
your mind, but which you so easily overcame. 

Henry. — Go, Antonio, drive these things from you mind, 
and adhere in pious symplicity to your paternal faith. 

Antonio. — Pardon me, sir ; this good advice you did 
not follow yourself. 

Henry. — There you are certainly right. But I had stu- 
died, and was therefore well acquainted with the learned 
controversies of the theologians. But you lack all pre- 
paratory knowledge. 

Antonio. — Ah ! since I have several times read the New 
Testament, I do not appear to myself to be as ignorant as 
formerly. True, I find some things in it, which I do not 
understand, because I am not learned ; but the discourses 
of Jesus I understand very well, and I perceive that it is not 
at all hard to learn from the Scriptures, what is to be be- 
lieved and done in order to be a true Christian and assured 



72 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

of eternal life. (With excitement) I do not at all see why 
among us the reading of the bible is forbidden to the people. 

Henry. — But how many a one has become heterodox by 
the reading of the Scriptures ! Take good care, ihat you do 
not fill your head with foolish notions. 

Antonio. — Heterodox ? does that mean to be foolish in 
our notions of faith ? 

Henry. — Not exactly that, but it means to believe differ- 
ently from the general doctrine of the church. 

Antonio. — Then, truly, that has already happened to 
me — I am heterodox, as you call it, and for that very reason 
I want you to clear the matter up. But give yourself no 
uneasiness about my foolish notions? I can assure you, that 
the doubts, which have occurred to me by reading the New 
Testament, do not trouble me, but rather that which I have 
learned from it, makes me a happier, and as I think, a bet- 
ter man. At least since that time I am always in good hu- 
mour! have you not observed it? 

Henry. — Well, what have you learned that makes you so 
happy? 

Antonio. — But — perhaps you will laugh at me. — 

Henry. — Then for once you were foolish in your faith. 

Antonio. — Well, if you will have it, then listen ! — It is 
the passage here in Matt. xix. 16, 19. And behold, one came 
and said unto him, good master, what good thing shall 1 
do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, 
why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that 
is, God ; but if thou will enter into life, keep the command- 
ments. He saith unto him, which? Jesus said, thou shall 
do no murder. Thou shall not commit adultery. Thou 
shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witnesss. Hon- 
our thy father and thy mother, and, Thou shall love thy 
neighbor as thyself. This passage, sir, has made me very 
happy. Hear, how it came ! 

It was about six years ago, when in Naples we were cel- 
ebrating the holy week and good Friday. My mind was 
quite full of the sufferings and death of the Lord, and I was 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 73 

SO dislressed and melancholy, that I could no longer remain 
in the streets of the city, but went out in a southern direction 
towards St. Elmo where an extensive prospect of Naples 
and the sea is presented. There I laid down under a tree. 
All was silent around me, the sun was sinking in glorious 
majesty beneath the distant waves of the sea, and the blue 
canopy of the high heavens every moment became darker 
above me. There, thought I, — is now the Redeemer in his 
splendor and joy ; and no earthworm Pharisees or Jewish 
priests can again obscure his glory or mar his happiness. 
But where is the heaven, which received the Saviour after 
his sufferings, and whither I shall also go to eternal joy and 
everlasting rest ! — I looked up — as far as my eye could reach, 
but there were no limits, my vision stretched farther and 
still farther, my thoughts penetrated farther still ; but im- 
mensity was there. 

I could imagine nothing. My thoughts fled from me. 
Only an unutterable longing after the life of the blessed re- 
mained as a deep fixed sorrow in my soul. The father of 
light, the sun, had gone down ; the crimson clouds and sky 
began to grow pale ; gray night approached from the east, 
the evening star soon glittered in the west, brighter — and 
still brighter, until like a pure consecrated lamp it burned 
in silvery brightness on the face of heaven. May not heaven, 
I thought in my ignorance, be located in this beautiful star! 
The paradise of the blessed may well be displayed in such 
pure, undimmed glory. In spirit I elevated myself from the 
earth to this enchanting paradise, and wandered under its 
trees with angels and saints and my beloved parents. How 
happy I felt ! I plucked fruit from the tree of knowledge, 
and ignorance and folly fell like scales from my eyes. I ate 
of the tree of life and felt, that henceforth 1 would not grow 
old, — that sickness and death would have no more domi- 
nion over me, — that I would flourish in immortal youth. I 
was blessed indeed ; — I forgot the world. It was the hap- 
piest hour of my life ! But the coolness of the night dew 
awakened me from my dream, and brought me back again 
7 



74 HEPfHY AND ANTONIO, 

to the earth. — Then it appeared to me, as though I had lost 
paradise for ever; I was Adam, as he was driven out of the 
garden of happiness. To return — to return was the ardent 
longing of my soul. But which way leads thither? who 
will give me security that I will find it? "Ah ! 1 cried out 
in agony — if thou O Redeemer, didst yet wander on earth, 
or if I had lived in the days of thy earthly pilgrimage, that 
I might have asked thee, that I might have heard from thy 
lips, what I must do to obtain eternal life !" That was in- 
deed an inconsiderate desire ! I said to myself it was foolish. 
But it clung to my soul, and it was awakened very often 
afterwards at the sight of the evening star, just as a longing 
for home at the remembrance of our native land. But see! 
in the days when the Saviour wandered among mortals, a 
young man felt the same longing that I did, and he ap- 
proached the Lord with the question, what shall I do, that 
I may have eternal life? — how I bless the holy evangelist, 
that he recorded the answer which the Saviour gave ! Now 
1 also have asked him ; and he has also directed me : hence 
it is that I am so happy. 

Henry. — (Thoughtfully) Good Antonio ! I also once look- 
ed upon the evening star and felt the same longing. Why 
was I not able to find the answer, which you have found ! 
I was directed to the church. 

Antonio. — (With earnestness) To the church, to Rome 
you need not betake yourself. Believe, sir, that heaven will 
not continue silent, if the heart sincerely asks. When I on 
that evening looked up to the high vault of heaven, which 
encompasses sea and land and stretches into immensity, 
Italy and holy Rome were to me only a miserable clod of 
earth, St. Peter's church a molehill, and the sacrificing priest 
a poor creature like myself, equally distant from the evening 
star and equally infirm. From him, from him, who came 
from heaven, and again ascended to heaven, did I desire to 
hear, how I also might reach that abode of bliss. 

Henry. — (Collected) But why, Antonio, hadjou no con- 
fidence in the church, which prefigures and visibly represents 



OR TUE PROSELYTES. 75 

Ihe invisible chuich of heaven, and to which the Saviour 
delegated the power of securing paradise to the faithful by 
means of the sacraments. 

Antonio. — I knew and now well know all that the church 
teaches and promises. But since that time her consolations 
have appeared to me very melancholy, richly fraught with 
fear and alarm. Therefore they could never cheer me, but 
I only became more distressed and perplexed. Ah sir, to 
the sincere Catholic who desires to save his soul, it is a 
work of anguish and misery. For only see! according to 
the Catholic faith, we by birth belong to the kingdom of the 
devil, who retains us in his power, until the priest delivers 
us from him at baptism through the influence of exorcism. 
That is already something terrible to me, to think that I ever 
was in the power of the devil, without knowing a word about 
it. Ah ! how great is the advantage I have with my Saviour! 
He called little children to him, who were yet unbaptized, 
kissed and blessed them, and said, 'the kingdom of heaven 
is theirs,' and all who wish to enter the kingdom of heaven, 
must become af; innocent children. But even baptism does 
not yet secure me against the wiles of the devil. The sa- 
crament of confirmation must be added, of which the 
Romish catechism says ; "it fortifies us against the tempta- 
tions of the flesh, the world and the devil." I believe in- 
deed, that confirmation is good, because the church has 
established it; but I find in my New Testament not a word 
' that Jesus and the Apostles confirmed the baptized in the 
same manner that the Roman priests do. But still this 
protection is not sufficient to secure the grace of God and 
eternal life. The sacrament of holy confession must now 
be used, at least once a year. The Holy Council of Trent 
says, that at confession the priests are, "judges of sinners 
and their sins, and in the stead of God and Christ." They 
can absolve or refuse it, and to whom they refuse it, upon 
him sin and its punishment rest, to him the gate of heaven 
is closed, and baptism and confirmation are of no avail. 
Ah ! dear sir, confession often distressed me exceedingly ! 



76 HENRV AND ANTONIO, 

I thoucrht in my simplicity, why has the Almighty God sdt 
up a man as judge between me and Him ? and that too in 
a matter in which I offended only Him, the Almighty and 
not the priest? why dare he not forgive me, if the priest 
should please to refuse me absolution? He is certainly 
merciful, but only when the priest declares he shall be mer- 
ciful !! — Here I was brought to a stand, and I was always 
very sorry to think, that the great God held us poor laymen 
in such low esteem as not to receive our confession, nor to 
judge and absolve us himself. But since 1 have read what 
our Saviour says of the prodigal son, how the father received 
and forgave him, all my apprehensions have been quieted. 
But the misery is not yet at an end. For if the priest does 
absolve me and I begin a new and christian life, the church 
still commands me to do works of penance in order to ap- 
pease the divine wrath, such as fasting, giving alms, saying 
prayers and many other such things. The Holy Council of 
Trent says expressly ; (in canon 13th, Session 14th,) "he 
who denies this and says the best repentence is a new life, 
let himbe accursed." But my Saviour says in that passage, 
(Matt. xix. 16, 19.) that I shall only keep the command- 
ments in order to be saved. 

But even if I have diligently performed all those works of 
penance, and besides all this, lived a christian life, yet I 
still need the last sacrament, or extreme unction. This 
has the efficacy of expiating 'minor sins and of driv- 
ing away the devil in the hour of death. "For — says the 
Holy Council (14th session) although the devil embraces 
every opportunity during our life to devour our souls ; yet 
there is no period in which he so zealously employs all his 
his wiles to destroy us, and to rob us of our confidence in 
the divine mercy, as when he sees we are about to die." 
This doctrine, dear sir, always alarmed me very much. 
What a miserable being man is, that even baptism, confir- 
mation, absolution, penance and a pious life, cannot so far 
secure him against Satan, as to prevent him from dragging 
away the soul even on a dying bed, unless the helping hand 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 77 

of the priest is present with his holy oil! Truly, the merci- 
ful God has not made it an easy thing for the sincere Catho- 
lic to obtain mercy from him ! 

But notwithstanding this, the terrors are still not at an 
end. Our catechism and the church teach; "there is also 
a purgatory in which the souls of the pious will be tormented 
for a fixed period and be thereby atoned for, that an en- 
trance into eternal happiness may be opened for them, into 
which nothinff unclean can come." Of what avail will it 
be to me, if from my birth to my death, I have conscien- 
tiously submitted to all the sacraments ? The priest must 
now read masses for souls, through the efficacy of which he 
will deliver me from purgatory, so that if my soul has already 
departed from the world, it is not yet delivered over to the 
mercy of God alone, but it needs the sacrifice of the priest, 
which moves that mercy! Hence, I think, that the soul of 
a sincere Catholic is indeed to be pitied. In life and in 
death it is not in the hands of God, but in the hands of the 
priest. 

Henry. — But, Antonio, do you not see, that it is particu- 
larly consoling to us when oppressed by a sense of sin, to 
know that the church has so many means of grace, which 
accompany us all through life? Who need be dismayed, 
since the church so securely shelters him, when even the 
departed soul is not left to itself, but is conducted to the 
gates of paradise by the holy sacrifice of the mass. 

Antonio. — But it is exactly this painful system of fortify- 
ing and securing my soul, that creates in me the feeling, as 
though it were like a besieged town, in which breaches were 
continually made, the enemy pouring in here and there, 
and reluctantly driven back by the garrison. By all this, I 
feel myself cut off from God, just as a besieged city from 
the governor of the country, and just as dependent on the 
power of the protecting priests as such a town is on the 
good will of the garrison. There is no certain security 
there. I must be in constant dread. 
7* 



78 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

Henry. — Fool! the power of the church is so infallible, 
that her sacraments afford the strongest security against all 
the attacks and manceuvres of the enemy of the soul, so 
that you can be in perfect peace, and may compare your- 
self not to a beseiged city, but to one that is delivered, and 
is ringing with the shout of victory. 

Antonio. — Pardon me, sir, this jubilee can only come, 
when I, redeemed from purgatory, enter the gates of para- 
dise. Until then, there is danger and strife. 

Henry. — For that reason the church leads you that far 
by her sacraments, and affords you by means of their infal- 
lible efficacy an invincible protection. That is the great 
advantage of our orthodox church over the Protestant, that 
she makes the attainment of salvation dependent on the per 
formance of the sacramental services themselves, and not 
as the Protestant church, on faith or the firm conviction of 
the necessity of the grace of God for the sinner. The Pro- 
testant christian cannot know whether his faith is firm 
enough, he must always be afraid that his faith may waver, 
he must then always be full of dread and anxiety about his 
salvation. 

Antonio. — I do not think so, my dear sir. I have an 
unshaken confidence in the truth of the reply which Jesus 
gave to the question — what must I do that I may have 
eternal life, — and to all eternity I will believe in the 
grace of the father, who received the prodigal son, as he 
returned repenting. The matter is very simple in my 
view. If I believe in God, I must also believe that he is 
merciful ; if he is merciful, he will forgive the penitent 
without the mediation of the priest. So soon as I deny 
that, I also deny God, and then of course I no longer need 
the sacraments. 

Henry. — But I should still think that the saving power 
of the church was more to be relied on than the saving 
power of your confidence in the grace of God. 

Antonio. — I think not. If I have not yet a strong con- 
fidence and faith in the grace of God, then I can bare no 



OR THE l»ROSELYtES. fQ 

confidence that the sacraments will be effectual in procur- 
ing for me the grace of God. If God in general would not 
forgive the sinner, the sacraments would possess no effica- 
cy, so then we would have to believe that they operate like 
magic, and force the Almighty to dispense his grace. I 
must also then in the Catholic church have confidence or 
faith in God's grace, or no sacrament will quiet my con- 
science. 

Henry. — It may quiet your conscience or not, you may 
have faith or not, it will still be of great advantage to you. 
That is the most comfortable part of it, that it helps him, 
who has no confidence in it, just as a medicine heals a sick 
man, who hopes nothing from it. 

Antonio. — That would surely be very agreeable if it 
were only certain, and we could be assured of it by any 
means, and if the efficacy of the sacrament were not made 
to depend on the faith of another, of which I cannot be 
certain, that is, on the faith of the priest who administers 
the sacrament. You know, that the church teaches, that 
every sacrament is only then effectual to the faithful, when 
the priest who administers it, has the intention of adminis- 
tering a sacrament. I cannot clearly express myself in 
your language. 

Henry. — I understand ; you mean he must have the will, 
the disposition of mind to administer a sacrament. 

Antonio. — The necessity of this intention the holy coun- 
cil maintains very strongly, when it says (Canon H. Sess. 7) 
"If any one maintains that intention is not necessary to the 
priest to do what the church does when he administers the 
sacraments, let him be accursed." That is a very doubtful 
affair to me. I can be certain of my own faith, for I can surely 
know what is in my mind, but how can I be certain of the in- 
tention of the priest? If his mind had been disturbed, or occu- 
pied by any thing else when he baptized, confirmed, absolved, 
and even gave me extreme unction, then I am as good as not 
baptized, confirmed, absolved or anointed. Who will assure 
me that the priest has the right intention ? You well know 



gQ HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

how men are, and how through mere habit, they at length 
thoughtlessly perform what they are called upon to do daily. 
But it is still worse, when the priest himself does not be- 
lieve in the efficacy of the sacrament. Since then I have 
no means in the world of being assured that the priest had 
the right intention. I must be forever uncertain whether the 
sacraments were of any benefit to me, and it can very easily 
happen, that after all I may be deceived, although I may 
have received the sacraments devoutly. It is very hard in- 
deed, dear sir, that we cannot receive our salvation imme- 
diately from God, but that the priest must conclude the 
contract with God for us, and that the whole contract may 
be void, if the priest commits some error in the formalities. 

Henry. — Antonio ! Antonio ! your prattle disturbs my 
mind ! I became a Catholic chiefly because I believed that 
I could be more certain of my salvation in the Catholic 
church than in the Protestant, in which I was taught to de- 
pend on my own faith. But I now see that it is more dan- 
gerous to be obliged to rely on the faith of another, of which 
we cannot at all be certain. Go now — leave me ! I wish 
to be alone ! 

Antonio. — {Sorrowfully,) — I communicated to you my 
joy upon the answer which I found after a long enquiry, 
and hoped to gladden your heart. Dear sir, why then can- 
not you rejoice with me? the word of the Saviour is also 
applicable to you, "keep the commandments and thou shalt 
enter into life." Cling to this word and dismiss every thing 
else from your mind. I thought that you could place as 
much, yea, even more confidence in the word of the Sa- 
viour himself, than in the declarations of his vicegerent in 
Rome. 

Henry. — You are right, my friend, I will do it. Now 
leave me ! 

Antonio obeyed. Henry felt his faith considerably shaken 
by this conversation with his servant. We know in what 
disposition of mind he was led to the Romish church. He 
had hoped, there to be quite certain of his salvation, as it 



6r the proselytes. q\ 

no longer depended on his own faith. He felt, that in this 
respect his condition was not meliorated, but rendered 
worse, and with that there was connected the painful expe- 
rience that he had deceived himself in the whole object of 
his conversion. He well knew that Antonio had no other 
teacher than the New Testament, and could not avoid the 
thought, that Antonio's sound understanding was leading 
him in a way, which he regretted he had not himself sooner 
entered. He became indignant at the thought, that the re- 
ligious teacher of his youth had not explained to him the 
scriptures in their relation to the Catholic church ; for he 
felt that the step which now occasioned the disagreement 
with his family, and gradually also with his own heart, 
would never have been taken, if the gospel had been ex- 
plained to him, as it explained itself to Antonio. Antonio, 
as he read it as a Catholic, interpreted every word in refer- 
ence to his own church, and hence very quickly observed 
that, which a Protestant unaquainted with Catholicism easily 
overlooks, and which for that reason does not afterwards 
immediately occur to him, when an attempt is made to 
alienate him from his church. Henry regretted, that whilst 
pursuing his philosophical studies with so much zeal at the 
university, he had totally neglected the New Testament, 
and he silently resolved to begin the work anew, hoping, 
that the simple word of the gospel would afford a guide 
which would extricate him from the labyrinth of theological 
and philosophical subtelties. At the same time he again 
took up the paper which he had written in Frankfurt, on 
which all the grounds of his conversion were fully develop- 
ed. He found that much which he had written down as 
undoubted certainty had vanished into nothing; but he also 
yet found much, which seemed to him irrefutable, and 
which gave him fresh courage. Particularly, that appeared 
to him to be removed beyond all doubt, which was to ba the 
subject of the next evening's conversation, namely, that 
the Roman Catholic is the only true apostolic church. 



02 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE ONLY TRUE CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH AND HER 

POPES. 

The next evening the family assembled for their usual so- 
ciable conversationj at which, according to the agreement, 
Bernhard was also present, yet only on the condition, that 
he was to take part when particularly requested, with which 
he was perfectly satisfied. He had been convinced from 
his short acquaintance with Henry, that he had become a 
Romanist merely from having misapprehended the nature 
of his religious wants, and that from this a sincere convic- 
tion followed. Hence he believed, that Henry deserved for- 
bearance, and should not be violently assaulted, if he were 
again to be won back to the church, from which he had se- 
parated. He flattered himself with the hope that Henry 
might again be won, since he had become a Romanist not 
from impure motives, but from conviction. In his opinion 
that time was misspent which was devoted to disputing with 
those who had become proselytes from mere selfishness, 
politics, or indifference to all religion. The assembled 
friends now challenged Henry to communicate his reasons, 
why he held the Roman Catholic to be the only apostolic church ? 
"You will grant, Henry began, that Jesus, or at least his 
apostles, founded a church, that is, an external society of 
christians, bound together by the same faith, the same go- 
vernment and the same rites. Of this church Jesus says, 
Matt. xvi. 18, that the gates or power of hell shall not pre- 
vail against it. The church founded by the apostles cannot 
then have been destroyed, it must yet exist, and it also can 
be the only true church of Christ. The question now, is, 
where is it to be found? Not in the evangelical churches, 
for they have only existed for 300 years; we know their 



OR THE PROSELYTES. g3 

founders, namely, Luther in Saxony, and Zwingle in Swit- 
zerland. But we do not know an uninspired founder of the 
Catholic church. Her origin, and the succession of bish- 
ops in her, extends to the apostles themselves, she is then 
the church founded by the apostles personally, therefore 
quite certainly the true church, to which alone all the pro- 
mises and privileges which Jesus gave to his church, refer. 
She and she only is in possession of true Christianity, of the 
lawful priesthood, the proper church government, and the 
true means of salvation. All those, such as Lutherans and 
Reformed,* which separate from her, depart from the true 
church of Christ, and must hence be regarded as heretics. 
These positions appear to me so true and withal so con- 
nected, that I know nothing that can be said against them, 
and now my friends, I will wait and hear your objections. 

Father. — You have brought forward two very different 
propositions, as though they were one and the same, and 
include both in your idea of the church. When you say, that 
Jesus founded a church which can never have been destroyed, 
you speak of the great christian communion, or of christiani' 
ty, which comprehends in it the Romish, Evangelical, Greek 
and other churches and sects as its parts. Christianity, or the 
church of all churches, was surely founded by Jesus and the 
apostles, because it can have no other origin. That is the 
church which cannot be destroyed. In the course of time 
"the churches," that is the Romish, Evangelical, &c. church 
sprung from it. When then you speak of the truth of the 
church and refer this expression to the origin of Christiani- 
ty, then chnstidLn'ity only wsls instituted by Christ; but not 
the'Catholic, Evangelical and Greek divisions into which 
Christianity was subsequently split. In this serfse an untrue 
church would be equivalent to an unchristian church, as for 
example, Mohamedanism, Judaism, the church of Fohi in 
China, or of Dalai Lama in Tartary. In respect to origin 
from Jesus and the apostles, Christianity is the true church. 

♦The CalTinistic Churches on the continent of Europe were called 
reformed. — ( Trans.) 



04 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

Henry. — I do not mean it in that sense, but I hold the 
Roman Catholic to be the true church, because she was 
founded by Jesus and the apostles personally. By the word 
church I did not mean Christianity or the great communion 
of christians, but the Roman Catholic church which is sub- 
ject to the Pope. 

Father. — Then you were wrong in starting out with the 
idea of Christianity in general, and yet in the progress of 
your reasoning confining your use of the word church to 
the Romish communion. You know that all reasoning is 
false, in the course of which a different sense is attached to 
the principle idea. 

Henry. — That is unquestionable, agreeably to the rules 
of logic. I will then state my position thus: That can be 
the only true church among all existing churches, which as 
the oldest was founded by Jesus and the apostles personally, 
and from which all others first separated themselves. 

Father. — You have now stated your position correctly, 
but yet it is to no purpose. You lay much stress upon it, 
that the Romish church was founded by the apostles per- 
sonally. If this is to be the mark of the true church, then 
only the churches of those cities and countries in which the 
apostles themselves lived and taught could constitute the true 
church, and the Romish church in Germany, Ireland, Po- 
land, and all America would not belong to the true church, 
because these churches were not founded by the apostles 
personally, but by other christian teachers. 

Henry. — But yet they are apostolical, for they have re- 
ceived the apostolical instruction from other persons of 
the true church. 

Father. — Then you acknowledge that it is the same thing 
whether the apostles founded a congregation by their per- 
sonal oral instruction, or by their peroneal written instruction, 
and that the other persons who impart to it the instruc- 
tion of the apostles, do not take away from it the character 
of apostolical. It is not they, properly, but the gospel, 
which establishes the new church. Thus it was in the 



OR THE PROSELYTES. g5 

institution of the evangelical church. She was also a branch 
which proceeded from the Romish church and received from 
her the holy scriptures, the three general confessions and 
some other things, and only rejected that which was op- 
posed to the written instructions of the apostles. It was not 
the reformers who founded our church, but the gospel, after 
it had been brought out of its concealment by them. They 
were only the means — the missionaries of the gospel, and 
hence with great propriety we call ourselves an evangelical 
or gospel church. That church founded by the written in- 
struction of the evangelists and apostles is more safely a true 
church, than one founded by oral instruction, because 
written doctrine is more certain and secure than oral doc- 
trine which has passed through the heads of so many other 
teachers. The former proceeded immediately from the spirit 
of the apostles and was reduced to writing which cannot be 
changed, but the latter has been subjected to constant 
change through many centuries, and it is not to be doubted 
but that every ©ne who imparted it, shaped it according to 
his own peculiar views. 

Henry. — The difference, dear father, consists in this, that 
those churches founded by the Catholic church also assum- 
ed her organization and whole character, and thus became 
one with her, but other churches, the evangelical for in- 
stance, changed many things. In judging of the genuine- 
ness of a church every thing depends on its character. 

Father. — Then you see, my son, that when we speak of 
the true church, we must not inquire about its apostolical 
origin,' hut whether it possesses the true character; so that 
the question, which among all existing churches is the true 
church, can have no other meaning than this; which is the 
best, that is, which most perfectly answers the design which a 
christian church should generally have in view. What was 
the object of Christianity in your opinion ? 

Henry. — We have already agreed, that the object was 
to deliver men from the punishment of sin. The church 
is the means of accomplishing it. 
8 



Q5 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

Father.— Good, so then that church is the only true one 
which serves that purpose, that is, is capable not only of quiet" 
ing the apprehensions of men about the punishment of sin, but 
also of delivering them from the dominion or service of sin. 
We have not then to ask which is the oldest church, but 
which is the best, that is, best adapted to fulful the object 
of Christianity. Consquently our Augsburg confession is 
very right in saying, ''The true church exists where the gos- 
pel is properly taught, and the sacraments are administered 
according to the directions of Christ." If it should now 
be found that the evangelical church better answers the de- 
signs of Christianity, then she would also be the truest or 
the best church, but the Roman Catholic would be either 
less true or altoofether a false church, if she answered this 
purpose in a less degree, or really opposed it. 

Henry. — It is not possible, dear father, that the Roman 
Catholic church, as the oldest, could ever be a corrupt 
church; for she has the spirit of God, is infallible, and 
hence among all other churches is the only one protected 
against errors of faith and practice. 

Father. — Experience contradicts that. Jesus himself 
says, that false teachers will arise in his church ; the apos- 
tles had experience of that, and no century has elapsed in 
which the church has not been disturbed by controversies 
about doctrine and practice. The councils decided many 
points, but they were not always unanimous ; many things re- 
mained undecided. The early church herself adopted some 
measures which were afterwards abandoned, for instance, 
the love feast, and the administration of the Lord's supper 
to children. You see then, that it is possible for the church 
founded by the apostles to be in some degree corrupted in 
the course of time. But if such corruptions exist, if, for 
instance, the church introduces so many means of reconcil- 
iation, that it is no longer necessary for men to abandon sin, 
but sufficient to declare it their intention to do so ; if in 
public worship she regards instruction and edification as 
matters of minor importance and the ceremonies as the 



OR THE PROSELYTES. Q7 

principal thing; if she introduces superstitious rites and 
considers them as essential, as for instance the adoration of 
saints and relics ; if the organization is so shaped that the 
church is no longer serviceable to Christianity, but only 
to the priesthood ; if every thing is so perverted, that instead 
of Christ, a pope is set up, in the place of apostles, bishops, 
and in the room of the church, a priesthood; then the 
church is different from what she originally was, and no 
longer answers the design of religion, but the purposes 
of the priesthood. Under these circumstances it is the right, 
yea, the duty of Christian congregations to reform the church 
and to abolish the abuses that have crept in. I would de- 
signate this as the right of reformation. This right was ex- 
ercised about 300 years ago by many congregations of the 
west, and thus was established the Evangelical church. 
After emperors and kings had often, but always in vain, in- 
sisted upon a reformation in the "head and members" as 
they expressed it, that is, in the pope and priesthood, but 
the popes had baffled these attempts, as well as the ex- 
ertions of the two great Councils of Constance and Basel in 
the fifteenth century, that finally occurred to which the 
church had a natural right ; she reformed herself and followed 
Luther, Zwingli and other pious men, who showed from the 
writings of the evangelists and apostles, how the church 
should be constituted. It was not these men who brought 
about the reformation, but the general will of the people, 
who adhered to the gospel or the doctrine of Christ, which 
these men explained to them anew. As the popes, instead 
of encouraging the reformation, proscribed and excommuni- 
cated the reformers and all their followers, they were per- 
fectly right since unjustly excommunicated, in joining 
together in a christian communion or church, which they 
called evangelical, because it was founded on the gospel. 
From the right of reforming the church, necessarily follows 
the legitimacy of the origin or constitution of the evangeli- 
cal church. Another person as reformer would not have 
been necessary, if the popes had been more solicitous about 



09 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

the honor of Christ, than about their earthly dominion. It 
is then beyond controversy, that the evangelical church is a 
christian and apostolical church, and that, she, as one re- 
formed according to the gospel, is also a true church, and 
at least possesses more of the character of the true church, 
than the Romish, which retains and perpetuates all the de- 
ficiencies and abuses which rendered the reformation ne- 
cessary. 

Henry. — Even if I grant all this, yet there still remains 
the objection, that she is not a catholic church, and has de- 
clared herself off from the first church founded by the apos- 
tles, which is united under the bishop of Rome as the 
head. 

Father. — I must ask Bernhard for an explanation of the 
meaning of the word catholic. 

Henry.^ — I can give it to you myself. Catholic is a 
Greek word and signifies general. The expression was 
commonly used in the second and third centuries by the 
church, and was occasioned by certain teachers 'of false 
doctrine, to whom it was objected, that all the other chris- 
tian congregations believe diff"erently from them, and that 
hence their doctrine as opposed to the general belief, could 
not possibly be true. 

Bernhard. — That is correct; but it is to be observed in 
addition, that by the expression catholic church was meant 
the congregations in the Roman Empire, the imperial church, 
and not all christian congregations in the world. The 
word oixovy^svy], which expresses the same as catholic, fre- 
quently signifies the Roman Empire, hence also an oecu' 
menical council did not comprehend all christian teachers, 
for instance, from Aethiopia, Persia, India, Arabia, &c. but 
only the bishops of the empire. Only under these circum- 
stances was it possible that the Roman Emperors, as Con- 
stantino and Theodosius the Great, could call together gen- 
eral, or oecumenical, viz. imperial councils, and give the 
sanction of law to their decrees. The title also o£ oecumen- 
ical bishop (which I will mention here) which the bishops of 



OR THE PfiOSELYTES. 89 

Rome arrogated to themselves, and which was finally granted 
to them, meant nothing more than first or chief bishop of the 
Roman Empire, and by no means, as was subsequently 
maintained, general or sole bishop of the whole christian 
world. Catholic church originally then, meant nothing 
more than the imperial church, the church of the Roman 
Empire. When the Roman Empire was divided into two 
great parts, the western and eastern, or the Latin and the 
Greek, then there naturally arose two Catholic churches, that 
is, two imperial churches, the western and the eastern. The 
latter or the Greek church after her separation from the 
western, continued to call herself a catholic, that is, an im- 
perial church, and the Latin church never disputed the title. 
It was only after the dismemberment of the Latin Empire, 
that men in the ignorance of the middle ages began in the 
west to use the expression, catholic church, in the sense of 
general, consequently only true church, although after the 
destruction of the Roman Empire, there could not properly 
any longer be a catholic or imperial church. Roman Cath- 
olic church then properly designates the christian church of 
the Latin-Roman Empire, and thus has a correct meaning. 
But if catholic, as men now wish to use it, is to designate 
the general church in all places of the world, then Roman 
Catholic is as great a contradiction of terms as "wooden 
iron" inasmuch as, besides the eastern church, the evangeli- 
cal church has arisen, and Roman now since the dissolution 
of the Roman Empire, only yet extends to that particular 
church, which acknowledges the bishop of Rome as its head. 
At the present day Roman Catholic signifies the Romish 
Particular General Church, which is a sad contradiction. 

Hknry. — I never viewed it in that light and readily con- 
fess that no importance can be attached to the title catholic, 
yea, that on account of the totally changed political rela- 
tions of the empire, it no longer has any meaning. But 
even if I do regard the Romish church as a particular 
church, yet you must grant that she is the oldest, and that 
she was founded immediately by the apostles. And this is 
8* 



90 HENRY AND ANTONFO, 

certainly an advantage. The evangelical churches are all 
new, instituted only three hundred years ago, and surely 
the promise of Christ, that his spirit should guide the church, 
does not refer to them. 

Father. — I well know that you Romanists are always 
quoting this sentiment, "where the church of God exists, 
there is also the spirit of God, and he who declares himself 
oft' from the church also departs from communion with the 
spirit of God." But you are wrong. The spirit of God is 
not exclusively bound to the Roman pope or church ; of 
that the scriptures say nothing. The converse is rather 
true, where the spirit of God is, and operates, there exists the 
church of God. I do not feel myself bound to the head, 
Christ, by the members, but to the members by the head. 
And what you say about the advantage of antiquity and the 
modern organization of the evangelical church, that is al- 
ready refuted by what was said before. There are old errors 
and new truths ; so that in the investigation of every sub- 
ject, the question should not be, is it old ? but, is it true ? 
Christianity was also once new, and so was every truth, 
which is now old to us.* 

Henry. — But is it no advantage at all to the Romish 
church that she is the oldest ? 

Father.- — She is by no means the oldest. Only read 
your New Testament, and you will have a more correct idea 
of the establishment of the christian church, for the Roman 
papal church is altogether out of the question. That the 
church was established in the Roman Empire, was not the 
choice of the apostles, but it necessarily occurred, because 
they lived in that empire. They founded individual con- 
gregations wherever they could, especially in Asia Minor 
and Greece, of course in districts, which do not belong to 
the present Romish church, but to the eastern church. If 
then any church in the world could claim immediate de- 
scent from the apostles, it would be the Eastern or Greek 

See Appendix, No. III. 



OR THE PROSELYTES, g| 

church, for in her provinces, in Egypt, Syria, Pisidir, Pa- 
phlagonia, Galatia, — in Greece, Thrace, Macedonia, the first 
congregations were founded, and by the apostles themselves. 
If then the truth and genuineness of a church depended on 
her antiquity, the Eastern or Greek church would be the 
true one, and the Roman a spurious one. For perhaps not 
a single one of the Latin churches can show that it was 
founded by an apostle. It is true that during the life of the 
apostles, a congregation was founded at Rome, as we learn 
from the epistle which Paul wrote to them, but it was eS" 
tablished before an apostle went there. The congregations 
scattered throughout the whole Roman Empire were the 
first churches, they may have been founded by the apostles 
themselves or by others. But they had not yet an external 
bond of union. They governed themselves and managed 
their own affairs, bnt they had yet no church government 
common to them all. This and the external form of a uni- 
ted society, they first received in the fourth century, when 
they were publicly acknowledged in the empire as a church, 
at the time that Constantino the Great became a christian, 
and called together the bishops to an imperial synod or diet, 
and shaped the church government according to the politi- 
cal divisions of the empire. But that, my son, was not the 
the Romish church, that is, the one subject to the pope, but 
the imperial church, which embraced all the congregations 
in the empire, and at whose head the emperors stood, and 
not the bishops. The bishop of Rome then first became a 
patriarch, and enjoyed equal rights with the patriarchs of 
Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem, and 
only afterwards received the precedence over them. But 
he was subject to the emperor as well as the other bishops.* 

Henry. — Then the Roman bishops at that time were not 
popes, and did not rule the church. 

Father. — I will leave you to answer that question, Bern- 
hard. 

•See Appendix, No. III. 



Q£J HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

Bernhard. — What you have said agrees perfectly with 
history. The bishops of Rome were at an early day very 
highly distinguished and influential, because they were the 
bishops of the great capital of that immense empire. The 
splendor of the city also cast its broad beams over them. 
But they were not lords of the church, and only stood on an 
equality with other great bishops.* Every bishop was called 
papa, pope, i. e. father, particularly the patriarchs of Alex- 
andria, and every church founded by an apostle called itself 
sedes apostolica, apostolical seat. The precedence was allow- 
ed to the Roman bishop only because he was the bishop of 
the capital of the kingdom, but no superior power or au- 
thority was bestowed upon him. It was the christian em- 
perors, Constantino and his successors, who established ec- 
clesiastical law, who appointed bishops and deposed them, 
who called general church councils and confirmed their de- 
cisions, by which alone they received the authority of law. 
And when Charlemagne at the beginning of the ninth cen- 
tury again restored the Western Imperial dignity, he also 
exercised supreme authority over the bishops of Rome, and 
summoned church councils. It was only in the eleventh 
century that popery was established by the Roman bishop 
Gregory the Wl. and with it the Romish church, and he 
was the man who first arrogated to himself exclusively the 
title papa, (pope) notwithstanding that the Eastern bishops 
never recognized this assumption.! The Romish church then 
in the present sense of the word, where it designates those 
congregations which acknowledge the Roman bishops as 
pope, or as supreme head of the church, was first establish- 
ed in the middle of the eleventh century under the Roman 
bishop Gregory the VII. after the eastern christians public- 
ly and solemnly separated from the Western in 1053, be- 
cause they would not recognize the supreme authority which 
the Roman bishops began to assume. Hence the Roman- 

*See Appendix, No. IV. 

fTo this day the ministers in the Greek Church are called papa, (pope) 
father. 



OR TEIE PROSELYTES. 



93 



papal church was first established only one thousand years 
after Christ. When then in the sixteenth century the evan- 
gelical christians separated from the Roman church, they 
did not leave an old but a new church, which had been in- 
stituted but about five centuries before, and returned again 
to the old church. 

Henry. — But did not Jesus appoint the apostle Peter 
the supreme head of his church, and did not Peter, when 
he was bishop at Rome, bequeath this supremacy to the 
Roman bishops as his successors? Has not this oflicial pre- 
eminence of the Roman bishops always been acknow- 
ledged in the church ? Had not then the Roman bishops 
the right from the very beginning, of being popes ? 

Father. — This error has been so often and so conclu- 
sively refuted, that it is almost idle to say any thing more 
about it. You found your pretension on the words of 
Christ, Matt. xvi. 18. "And I say also unto thee, that thou 
art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church; and 
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (v. 19.) And I 
will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, and 
whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in 
Heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt lose on earth shall be 
loosed in Heaven." The words of the 19th verse, which 
speak of the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, we will not 
now consider. For we have already (ch. vi.) discussed 
that subject, and again, they do not bestow any prerogative 
upon Peter, for the Saviour, Matt, xviii. 18. John xx. 23, 
addresses the same words to all the apostles. The 18th 
verse then remains to be considered. Jesus here, accord- 
ing to the custom of antiquity, gave Peter, who was pro- 
perly called Simon, another name, just as Paul was first 
called Saul, and the apostle Matthew's first name was Levi. 
The internal character of Peter, namely, his courage and 
stability, (for which reason our Lord compared him to a 
rock,) gave occasion to Jesus to change his name, which 
was very common at that day. Thus David calls God his 
rock, upon which he trusts. Hence the Saviour means; 



94 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

upon this your courage and stability, unshaken as a rock, 
(which will not yield to the Pharisees and Scribes, and will 
not be moved by any persecution) I build the hope of es- 
tablishing a perpetual church ; or you by your courage and 
activity will be distinguished above all in the establishing 
of my church." But our Saviour says not a single word 
about Peter being the lord of the church, or even the chief 
of the apostles. What Jesus said, was only an evidence of 
what he hoped, from the character and courage of the apos- 
tle, and nothing more.* It was neither a commission nor a 
charge ; and we would act just as unreasonably, as if we 
would conclude from that other address of Jesus to Peter, 
(Matt. xvi. 23.) that he had for ever excluded Peter from 
his church. "But he turned and said unto Peter, get thee 
behind me Satan ; (deceiver,) thou art an offence unto me : 
for thou savorest not of the things that be of God, but those 
that be of men." 

Henry. — I grant that in those words Jesus gave no com- 
mission, and bestowed no supreme power on Peter ; but 
they only show, what Jesus hoped from Peter; but yet it 
still cannot be denied, that Jesus at another place gave 
Peter paramount authority over the church or the chief epis- 
copal office. For we read that after his resurrection he 
he said three times to Peter, "Feed my lambs." John xxi. 
15—17. 

Father. — But he does not say you alone shall feed ray 
lambs ; he does not thereby exclude the other apostles. 
This whole commission rather shows, that Peter should 
thereby be stimulated to devote himself anew to the per- 
formance of his apostolical duties. He had denied Jesus, 
and the intention of the threefold question of the Redeem- 
er, "Simon, lovest thou me ? " must have been well under- 
stood by him. After the death of Jesus he betook himself 
again to the sea of Tiberias, and devoted himself to his 
former occupation, that of a fisherman ; and so he well 

•See Appendix No. V. 



oft THE PROSELYTES. 95 

needed the renewed encouragement, "feed my sheep," that 
is, abandon your business and devote yourself to the work 
of an apostle. For the words of Jesus by no means em- 
brace the idea, you shall be chief of the apostles, and the 
only bishop of all future christians. 

Henry. — But according to the records of the acts of the 
apostles, did not the other apostles always yield the pre- 
eminence to him, and did he not always stand at their 
head ? 

Father. — A distinguished apostle he most certainly was, 
because he had talents and energy, but that he exercised 
authority over his fellow apostles or the whole church, is not 
true. You find no evidence of it, but plain proof of the 
contrary ;* Paul (Galat. ii. 9.) says that James, Peter and 
John "seemed to be pillars, of the church," and thus attri- 
butes equal influence and authority to them all. Paul was 
chosen by Jesus to be the apostle of the Gentiles, and ac- 
cording to Galat. ii. 9. the other apostles acknowledged him 
as such, and declared that they would confine themselves 
exclusively to the gentiles. t Now if we reasoned as the 
Romanists do, we could maintain, that Peter was only the 
supreme head of the Jewish Christians, but Paul the su- 
preme head of the Gentile christians. 

Henry. — But if Peter had no supremacy over the other 
apostles and the church, then he could not have transferred 
it to the bishops of Rome ? 

Father. — And that was never done. If Jesus had really 
(Matt. xvi. 18.) bestowed any prerogative on him, yet he 
would have received it merely on account of his personal 
qualities of firmness and solidity, for which reason he was 
compared to a rock. But since personal qualities cannot 
be bequeathed to others, so this prerogative of Peter could 
not be transferred to others. Of course then it must have 
become extinct at his death, or it would certainly sooner 
have been bestowed upon the apostle John who survived 
Peter, if upon any one, than upon the then bishop of 
Rome.t 

•See Appendix VI. fAppendix VII. 



9^ HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

Mother. — I cannot but believe, that the Saviour would 
have spoken much more explicitly, if he had wished to 
make Peter the supreme ruler of the church. Rights so 
important and exerting such an unspeakable influence on 
Christianity are not bestowed on any one in a short figura- 
tive expression, "thou art a rock, and upon it will I build 
ray church." I should think that the Lord could without any 
difficulty have said, 'you shall be the head of my church, 
and at your death you shall bequeath this right to the bish- 
ops of Rome.' Why would not the Lord have said that, if 
he had even remotely thought of it ? But in the discourses 
of Jesus and in the writings of the apostles, we read of only 
one head of the church, and that is Christ himself. Your 
position, dear Henry, that you Romanists alone can be true 
Christians, because you adhere to the pope, and claim de- 
scent from the first church, reminds me of the Jews, (John 
viii. 37, 45.) who maintained that they alone were the true 
children of God, because they descended frona Abraham. 
The Lord tells them, that they only then shall be the chil- 
dren of Abraham, when they do the works of Abraham, — 
be as pious as Abraham. Thus he will acknowledge only 
those as true Christians, who "have the same spirit, the 
same mind" with him, whether they are papists or not. I 
would suppose, dear Henry, that the matter might be settled 
in this manner, we might dispense with all learned investi- 
gations, whether in the first church the bishops of Rome 
were recognized as supreme rulers of the christian world or 
not. 

Henry. — Yes, it may be so. Neither can I deny, that 
this acknowledgment cannot be proved. I have read the 
writings of the fathers, and confess that I found nothing, 
which establishes a recognition of the Romish pontiff. 
Although I have seen that the church in Rome was regarded 
as one of the oldest and most distinguished, yet I could 
not find, that any jurisdiction over the church was ascribed 
to her bishop. 

Bernhard. — Your observations are very correct and im- 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 97 

partial, dear friend. There is a great difference between 
highly venerating a church and inquiring about her confes- 
sions of faith, because she is one of the oldest and most 
distinguished, and venerating her, because her bishop is 
supreme head of the church. 

Henry.— But even if the supremacy of the popes cannot 
be established by the New Testament, and was not recog- 
nized in the early centuries, as I now myself grant, yet it is 
so necessary to the church to have a pope that one would 
have to be appointed, if we had none already, so that it is 
highly improper to reject him. For, first, there must be one 
point of union in the church, to bind all things together and 
keep them in connection, if the whole is not to fall to pieces, 
There must also be a unity of church government, a central 
point of faith, in fine, all that we have in the pope. 

Father. — You here combine several things together, 
which we must separate. What do you mean by a point of 
union in the church respecting its faith ? 

Henry. — One, that can pronounce a decisive judgment 
upon all doctrinal controversies, and thus maintain peace in 
the church, or restore it, when it is disturbed. 

Father. — Have your popes been able to do that? 

Henry. — Not altogether, it is true; but in most instances 
they have maintained the unity of the faith. 

Father. — They could not prevent, they rather occasion- 
ed the separation of the whole eastern from the western 
church; they could not prevent it, that since they found- 
ed their kingdom in the 11th century, there have been Wal- 
denses, Wicklifites, and Hussites; and that Dominicans, 
Franciscans and Jesuits, conducted the most violent con- 
troversies among themselves about the immaculate concep- 
tion of Mary, original, and sanctifying grace, which remain 
undecided to this day. They could neither prevent the 
commencement, nor afterwards arrest the progress of Quiet- 
ism and the Jansenit controversies in the French church, — 
it was thus with the great fundamental principle established 
by the councils of Constance and Basel, that the pope is 
9 



98 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

subject to a general council; it was thus also with the great 
and powerful reformation in which nearly half of the West 
declared itself free from Rome. Of what avail then was 
your point of union in faith to you? 

Henry. — A great deal, for it was the popes alone, who 
amid the storm of parties, bound the greater part of the 
church in unity, and by their influence held it together. If 
it had not been for the popes, the whole church would have 
been divided into sects. 

Father. — Rather say, if it had not been for the popes, 
•be reformation would have been general, and the whole 
western church would have been converted into an evan- 
gelical communion. You say, you have a point of union, 
the pope, to whose decrees all must subject themselves; but 
we also have a point of union, the gospel, whose instruc- 
tions every evangelical christian follows. 

Henry. — But we are better off than the evano-elical 
christians, for amongst them every one explains the gospel 
as he pleases, but the decrees of the popes are not subject 
to the interpretation of every one. Hence among you there 
is diversity of opinion, amongst us, there is unity. 

Father. — The difference is rather this, that we follow 
the divine revealed word, but the Romanists obey a fallible 
man, and are forced to confess as true and good whatever 
pleases the Roman bishops. And it has pleased them, to 
establish as an article of faith above all others, that they 
are the unlimited lords of the church and the whole chris- 
tian world, and that it is a most heinous sin not to believe 
and obey them. The difference is, further, that the gospel 
contains a sum of truths unalterably fixed, but the faith of 
the Romanist can always receive a new, and often an un- 
welcome addition from the pope. The difference is, again, 
that amongst us, the variety of religious opinions can be made 
uniform only through the influence of the truth, but in the 
Romish church uniformity of sentiment is produced by vio- 
lence and excommunication. For what means did the 
popes employ to maintain the unity of the faith?— Think of 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 9g 

the fearful and terrible wars of extermination which they 
waged against the Albigenses and Waldenses — of the cru- 
sades, by which many towns were utterly destroyed, of that 
monster, the Inquisition, which according to the authentic 
report of the unfortunate Llorente, burned alive in Spain 
alone, from the year 1481 to 1808, 32,382 persons, and im- 
prisoned and robbed of their property 291,450. Of the 
abominations which were allowed in England under the 
bigotted Mary, at the introduction of popery, — of the horri- 
ble massacre on St. Bartholomew's day at Paris, for joy at 
which the pope instituted spiritual festivals — of the thirty 
years war in Germany which was instigated by the Jesuits — 
of the dreadful violence by which the reformation was sup- 
pressed in Austria and Bohemia, and of all those streams 
of blood which pollute your church, and condemns her be- 
fore God as guilty of the most dreadful murders, and then 
yet boast to me, that the pope maintains union and peace 
in the church. A pretty point of union indeed, whose only 
means of operation are, fire and sword.* 

Henry. — You set too much to the account of the popes, 
that was owing only to the inconsiderate zeal of the princes. 

Father. — Now, you know very well, that the popes in- 
flamed the wars against the Waldenses and the evangelical, 
that in the seven years war a consecrated hat and sword, 
were presented by the pope to the Austrian field marshall 
Daun, that with it he might annihilate the heretical king of 
Prussia, — that the popes established the inquisition, — that 
pope Innocent IV. augmented its severity, and that they 
commanded and promoted its general introduction. And 
only hear, what 'the father of the christian world' wrote to 
the king of France in 1712, when he sent the bull unigeni- 
tus. *'The kingdom of heaven, that is, the Catholic church, 
receives this advantage from the civil power, that those who 
act contrary to the confession of faith and order of the 
church, are destroyed by the rigor of the civil princes, and 

♦Appendix, VIIL 



100 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

the punishments which the church herself, the pope may not 
wish to inflict are laid upon the necks of the obstinate by 
the civil authority." 

Henry. — You believe then that the unity of the faith 
could be maintained without a pope ? 

Father. — 1 believe it; and that it is very possible I see 
in the example of the Greek church, which has no pope, 

Henry. — But who is to decide in religious controver- 

o 

sies ? 

Father. — Let it be as was done in the christian world 
for nearly a thousand years before there was a pope ; let 
the ruler of the country convene a synod of his kingdom 
to settle the dispute. In this manner were the greatest 
controversies of the ancient church settled for the space of 
900 years. But it is still better, to leave these different 
opinions correct themselves, for the truth will most infal- 
libly appear in the end, it will always triumph. This agrees 
with what the Saviour said. He compares the church to a 
field, (Matt. xiii. 24, 30.) in which a man sowed the good 
seed of truth, but among which the enemy scattered the 
tares of error. The servants wished to pluck up the tares, 
just as the pope desires to exterminate heretics and here- 
sy, but the householder said, "let both grow together until 
the harvest." We are then taught to endure the erring 
until the last day, if they cannot be brought to the truth by 
instruction. 

Henry. — But there must at least be unity in the church 
government, and this cannot be well maintained otherwise^ 
than by a common supreme head. 

Father. — Before there were popes the Roman Emperors 
governed the church. #*###* 
A system of church government that is to extend over all 
christians in all quarters of the world is not possible, and 
exceedingly expensive and oppressive. 

Mother. — 1 confine myself to the apostle Paul, who 
proposes another point of unity, not the pope, but Christ. 
He writes thus to the Ephesians, (ch, ii. 20, &c.) "Ye are 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 101 

built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Je- 
sus Christ himself being the chief corner stone, (point of 
unity.) In whom all the building, filly framed together, 
groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord." In the fourth 
chapter, in which he maintains the unity of the church, the 
apostle does noi even mention the pope or the vice-gerent 
of Christ, but in the eleventh verse he recites the ecclesias- 
tical offices thus, "And he gave some apostles ; and some, 
prophets ; and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors and 
teachers;'' but he does not say that Christ ordained one to 
be the supreme head of all. 

Henry. — That is true, dear mother; but it is still cer- 
tainly of great advantage to the church, to have a spiritual 
chief, who is equal in rank and dignity to kings and empe- 
rors, or elevated above them, who by the independent pos- 
session of an extensive country belongs to the rulers of 
this world, and who blazes in all the brilliancy of a sovereign 
prince. It is of great advantage for those who are placed 
near him, the cardinals and archbishops, to hold the rank 
of princes, and that bishops subscribe themselves like prin- 
ces, "by the grace of God.'' This exalted hierarchy con- 
stitutes an indissoluble chain, which reaches from the low- 
est hut to the most elevated throne, connects every thing 
together, and secures to the church her glory, her indepen- 
dence on the authority of kings, and her great influence 
upon the minds of the people. The rank of this exalted 
body of ecclesiastics every where secures them a place 
among the great of the earth ; they sit among kings and 
princes. The ears, the hearts of the powerful are open 
to them ; they learn and make proper use of their infirmi- 
ties. On the other hand, look at the poor, miserable, evan- 
gelical clergy, — how far separated from the great men of 
the world, not allowed to approach nearer than the com- 
mon people, — how they are excluded from the most insig- 
nificant princely court — and how the most distinguished 
clergyman in the employ of a court is not more highly re- 
garded than the gentleman of the bed chamber. Is it at all 
9* 



102 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

to be wondered at, that since the reformation, so many prin- 
ces, dukes and lords have become Catholics? Assuredly 
posterity will yet see all the princes of Europe and other 
nations join the Catholic church. The advantages which 
the church gains from the grandeur of the pope and clergy 
is certainly very great. What cares the pope, who is him- 
self a great independent prince, about the opposition of 
another king? If this king desires to have any thing from 
the pope relating to ecclesiastical affairs, he must send an 
ambassador to him as to another king, and the supreme 
head of the church treats with him as an equal, as one po- 
litical power with another. If any thing is asked which is 
prejudicial to the church, the matter is rejected without fur- 
ther discussion, and the submission in the end is on the 
part of the princes. In what exalted dignity did not the 
supreme head of the church appear, when after the Con- 
gress of Vienna several German princes sent an embassy 
to Rome to negotiate a concordat for their Catholic sub- 
jects! the embassy was obliged to wait eight weeks before 
they could lay their propositions even before cardinal Gon- 
salvi, at that time secretary of state. He immediately re- 
turned their papers, after having marked with his pencil the 
alterations which must be made before the matter could be' 
submitted to the holy father. It finally progressed so far, 
that their business was proposed to the pope, who was in 
no hurry about his reply, and at last, when the embassy in- 
sisted upon an answer, told them, that he could do nothing 
in the matter, and with this decision the embassy left Rome. 
How is it, on the other hand, in Protestant countries, when 
the ruler desires to to have any thing — He commands, and 
men must obey, however unwilling the clergy may do it. 
No, only grant that the Protestant church is subject to the 
arbitrary authority of every prince, but the Catholic church is 
free and independent in the world, because she has a pope. 
I still am right when I say that a pope would have to be 
appointed if we had none already. 

Father, — There is truth and falsehood mingled in your 



OR THE PROSELYTES. J()3 

discourse. It is true, that the Evangelical church has no 
protection, when the ruler undertakes any thing prejudicial 
to her, and it is high time to adopt some measure, by which 
the relative dignity of church and state would be establish- 
ed. But to effect this we do not need a Catholic hierarchy 
and pope, but only ecclesiastical synods or councils, which 
are now introduced into many Evangelical countries. But 
the experience of 300 years in Germany, Sweden and Den- 
mark, teaches us that the Evangelical church is exposed to 
no danger from the power of her Evangelical monarchs, 
and is only opposed in those districts, or provinces, where 
the rulers were, or became Romanists. It is also true, that 
the Evangelical ministry is too slightly regarded in the state, 
that on accounnt of their want of rank they are excluded 
from intercouse with princes, statesmen and high nobility, 
and hence cannot frustrate the proselyting schemes of the 
Romish dignitaries, who are identified with the courts. 
Yet this is only the case in Germany, not in Denmark, 
Sweden and England; and even in Germany, Prussia has 
taken a step towards improving this matter by the restora- 
tion of the episcopal dignity.* But if it is not good to re- 
gard the ministry as of equal respectability with the com- 
mon people only, yet it does not follow, that it is good to 
make them princes and rulers. The one extreme is just as 
injurious as the other. The middle course is the best. But 
it is very plain that it does not become him who wishes to 
be the father of the whole christian world, to possess also a 
wordly kingdom. He who desires to be the only bishop of 
all Christendom, certainly must have enough to do in per- 
forming the duties of his office, that he need not besides 
burden himself with the weight of a wordly government. 
Your pope is only thereby involved in the strife of poli- 
tics, and often wavers between the interests of the church 
and the advantage of his political kingdom. He and his 
cardinals are always more of politicians than clergymen, 

*The king has lately conferred the honorary title of bishop upon some 
distinguished divines. — [Tr. 



104 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

more of jurists than theologians, more learned in worldly 
affairs, than in the things of the kingdom of God. Only 
read the history of the popes, and you will find that they 
were involved in political transactions without end, and that 
in truth they did not always act an honorable part. Or 
does it become those who wish to represent the apostles to 
be ministers of state, and commanders of armies, as Riche- 
lieu, Mazarin in France, as cardinal Sourdis, who command- 
ed the fleet, and as cardinal La Valette, who commanded 
an army of the king of France in the thirty years war? 

Mother. — We do not need history. The testimony of 
Jesus himself, condemns every thing you have said about 
the glory of a pope. He says expressly, John xviii. .36. "my 
kingdom is not of this world." And also in that passage, 
Matt. vi. 24, he condoms the pope, who is at the same time 
a vice-gerent of God and a worldly king, "no man can serve 
two masters; for either he will hate the one and serve the 
other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. 
Ye cannot serve God and mammon." The devil showed 
(Luke iv. 5.) the Saviour all the kingdoms of the world, in 
order to excite his ambition for an earthly kingdom: but 
the Lord said, "get thee behind me Satan." What the master 
did not wish and would not do, does not become the ser- 
vants. The disciples had certainly a desire for a political 
government. But what did Jesus say to them when he ob- 
served it! "Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exer- 
cise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise 
authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you; but 
whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister, 
and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your ser- 
vant." (Matt. XX. 25. Mark x. 35.) 

It really appears, as though the Lord had foreseen, that one 
of the successors of the apostles would make himself a pope. 

Father. — The result then of this evening's conversation 
is this — that Christ did not intend that there should be a 
pope in his church — that there was no pope and no Ro- 
mish church until the 11th century — that the pope, as a 



OR THE PROSELYTES. J()5 

worldly prince, is not suited to the spiritual character of 
the kingdom of Christ, and that it is a groundless position, 
that the Roman Catholic church was founded immediately 
by Christ, and to draw the inference, that therefore she is 
the only true church, and that the evangelical is a false 
church, is totally illogical. 

Bernhard. — I will take the liberty of adding but one ob- 
servation. What were adopted by the church in the first 
five centuries, as public articles of faith, are all contained 
in the three general christian confessions, the apostolical, 
the Nicene, and the Athanasian. These confessions, the 
evangelical church has adopted, and consequently she agrees 
with the church of the first five centuries. When then she 
rejects the doctrine of the pope, the mass, the seven sacra- 
ments, the adoration of saints and other innovations, she 
only rejects what was introduced into the church at a later 
period, without any scriptural ground whatever. For those 
three confessions contain not a particle of these doctrines. 
As false then, as is the position, that the Roman Catholic 
church as she is at present is the church of the first centu- 
ries, so false is also the accusation that the evangelical com- 
munion has seceded from the old church. She has rather 
returned to her and the Romish church has apostatized. 



CHAPTER X. 

ANTONIO AND MATT. XXIII.— THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 

The father was absent for eight days on a journey of busi- 
ness, and the discussions were in the mean time suspended. 
Henry found time to think over the subjects that had been 
debated. But he came to no other conclusion than that he 
felt, that his strongest arguments, by which he expected to 



106 IlENBY AND ANTOxNIO, 

justify his apostacy, were utterly untenable. He had yet 
one thing, upon which he laid great weight; but he feared, 
that he would fare no better than before. He began to ac- 
knowledge secretly to himself, that he certainly had acted 
precipitately, and with this secret acknowledgment there 
was associated a regret that he had abandoned his philologi- 
cal studies, devoted himself to painting, and had gone to 
Rome to be misled. Before he travelled to Rome, he trans- 
ferred his philological books to his father, and since his re- 
turn had not even inquired about them. Now he opened 
the book case, that, as he said, he might pass away his time 
during the absence of his father. He looked over them and 
here and there turned the leaves of an author. On the third 
day, he ordered the books to be conveyed to his own roora^ 
and soon after he was seen reading Plato very diligently. 

Antonio wondered at the new taste of his master, for he 
was not accustomed to see him reading Latin and Greek 
books. He could not repress his curiosity to ask, what the 
contents of these books were, and what was to be learned 
from them. 

"From them — answered Henry abruptly — we learn, that 
we should not pretend to know, what we do not know." 

"They must be very singular books, replied Antonio. I 
thought that was plain of itself." 

"One should think so, said Henry; but the art is very 
difficult, and I feel that I myself am but a novice in it." 

Antonio. — If it means, that we are in error about many 
things, which we thought we understood very well, then I 
also have a book, from which I can learn a great deal of the 
same character. 

Henry. — And that is? 

Antonio. — (Draws a small book from his pocket, and 
gives it to Henry.) Here — this is my treasury of wisdom. 

Henry. — Ah, your New Testament, translated by parson 
Van Ess. Have you again found any thing remarkable. 

Antonio. — Yes, something very remarkable, and I only 
wonder that I did not find it at the first perusal. 



OR THE PROSELYTES. JQy 

Henry. — Let me hear it. 

Antonio. — It is the 23d chapter of Matthew. Here, 
only read it. 

Henry. — (After he had looked over it) Nothing more? 

Antonio. — Is not that enough and more than enough? 
It is a description of Rome, of the pope, of the clergy. 

Henry. — You are foolish, Antonio; whoever found any 
such thing in it. 

Antonio. — I have found it, and Christ's description of 
the pharisees and scribes, in all respects suits the pope and 
the clergy. But what was blamed in the Jewish priests as 
wrong, that must also be wrong in Christian priests, for 
Jesus warns aorainst it. 

Henry. — In that you are perfectly right. But what sim- 
ilarity is there between the Jewish and the Roman priests. 

Antonio. — If you will patiently listen to me, I will give 
you an explanation of the whole chapter, which will be so 
plain in its reference to the Romish clergy, that you will 
have to agree with me. It is, as though Jesus spoke of 
Rome, only in other words. Let us take up one point after 
another, and permit me to explain each in reference to the 
circumstances of our own times. 

Verse 2—4. The scribes and the pharisees sit in Moses' 
seat. All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe (ac- 
cording to the law of Moses) that observe and do ; but do 
not ye after their works; for they say and do not." 

This I would interpret thus; the pope, the cardinals, the 
bishops, in one word, the priests sit on Christ's seat ; all 
therefore which they bid you observe according to the law of 
Christ, that do ye, that is, follow them when they teach 
you these words of Christ; "Thou shalt love thy neighbor 
as thyself: judge not, that ye be not judged; blessed are 
the meek, the peace makers ; love your enemies, bless those 
that curse you, bless and curse not." But do not ye after 
their works, for they themselves do not, what Jesus says. 
Jesus says, judge not; do not curse your neighbor, not even 
your enemy, but bless and do him good. But in the con- 



108 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

fessional they judge all sinners and all who differ from them 
in faith; they curse all heretics and heresy most solemnly; 
they have an inquisition, in which they imprison and torture 
those who doubt what they say. The christian high priests 
have in many of their bulls frequently cursed those who do 
not obey them. The celebrated bull of Green Thursday, 
which is annually read in Rome on that day, contains no- 
thing but curses, of which there are seventeen. It begins 
with the horrible words, " We excommunicate and curse in the 
name of the Almighty God^ the Father, the Son and the Holy 
Ghost, and in the name of the apostles Peter and Paul and 
our own, all Hussites, Wicklifites, Lutherans, Zwinglians, 
Calvinists, Hugenots, Anabaptists, and apostates from the 
christian faith, as well as all other heretics, whatever they 
may call themselves, and also those, who believe them, re- 
ceive them, patronize and defend them, all those who read 
their books without our permission, or keep, print, and de- 
fend them, for whatever reason it may be, publicly or pri- 
vately, whatever the pretext or design may be, also all schis- 
matics and those who through obstinacy withdraw their 
allegiance from us and from the Roman pope then on the 
throne." 

Now in opposition to all this I listen to the apostle Peter 
in whose name this bull utters such fearful curses. (I Ep. ii. 
15.) "For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye 
may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, and ch. iii. 
8. "Be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of anoth- 
er; love as brethren, be pitiful; becourteous; not rendering 
evil for evil, or railing for railing ; but contrariwise, blessing ; 
knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a 
blessing." And what says the apostle Paul, in whose name 
the bull also utters its maledictions against the unfaithful? 
Rom. xiv. 1. "Him that is weak in the faith, receive ye, but 
not to doubtful disputations, that is, not to judge his doubt- 
ful thoughts and views." Verse 4. Who art thou that judg- 
est another man's servant? to his own master, he standeth 
or falleth." Verse 10. *'But why dost thou judge thy bro- 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 209 

ther? or why dost thou set at naught thy brother? for we 
shall all stand at the judgment seat of Christ." Verse 13. 
Let us not therefore judge one another anymore] but judge 
this rather, that no man put a stumbling block, or an occasion 
to fall inhis brother's way.'' That, dear sir, is language that 
we might expect from an apostle of the benevolent Saviour, 
who cursed none of his bitter enemies, but prayed for them 
on the cross, and who according to Luke ix. 51, 56, severely 
reproved the disciples, when they wished to bring fire from 
heaven upon a Samaritan village, because the people there 
would not receive the Saviour. On the other hand, I have 
read something in that book, (pointing to an Italian work in 
Henry's book case, on the Council of Trent) which made 
me shudder. The holy bishops assembled at Trent, closed 
that great Catholic Synod by a general acclamation, which 
was done at the suggestion of the presiding officer, Cardi- 
nal de Lothringen. Towards the close, the cardinal cried 
out, "curse all heretics," and all the reverend bishops, these 
followers of Christ and the apostles, responded as with one 
voice; "curse, curse, curse" — then an angel should have 
thundered amongst them the words of Paul, "judge not 
another's doubtful thoughts — bless and curse not!" but hear 
more of our text; Verse 4. "For they bind heavy burdens, 
grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but 
they themselves will not move them with one of their fin- 
gers." 

The pastor of this parish lately explained this in reference 
to oppressive doctrines, which the later teachers of the law 
introduced in addition to the law of Moses, and with which 
they oppressed the people. It then occurred to me, that 
our ecclesiastics had also bound a burden on the laity, for 
instance, that all the laity must confess their sins and small- 
est infirmities to the priests ; that, though men repent of 
their sins, yet they must do works of penance, pray Pater 
nosters, but especially bestow offerings to churches, monas- 
teries and priests; that for forty days no flesh must be eaten, 
that mass must be read for the dead ; that the indulgence 
10 



no HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

of the church must be purchased ; and that all ihat the priests 
say must be unhesitatingly believed. 

Henry. — Stop, Antonio, there you say what is not true. 
Such a blind faith our priests do not demand. 

Antonio. — What ! will you not believe the holy Council 
of Trent ? 

Henry. — Did the Council establish that ? 

Antonio. — Does it not curse in all the canons all those 
who teach differently from the bishops of that council? 

Henry. — Yes, that is true. 

Antonio. — (Taking down the book on the Council of 
Trent.) Permit me ! Please to read here what the Council 
says in the thirteenth session. "The holy synod in estab- 
lishing the doctrine of the Lord's supper, hereafter forbids 
all faithful christians, from believing, teaching and preach- 
ing any thing else, than is here determined." Precisely this 
rule is found in the twenty-first session. But let us further 
hear what our Saviour says. 

Verse 5. "But all their works they do to be seen of men ; 
they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders 
of their garments." 

The Jewish Rabbis or teachers of the law and the priests 
wore strips of parchment with portions of the law inscribed 
upon them, bound round their wrists and their foreheads or 
attached to the borders of their garments, that they might 
appear very zealous for the law before the people. Now 
our priests do not exactly this. It would look very singular 
indeed, if the priests of the inquisition, who know no mer- 
cy, would wear this passage on their foreheads, "blessed are 
the merciful," or if the pope, the cardinals and other priests 
would wear on Green Thursday, when the bull of seventeen 
curses is read, this passage; "bless and curse not,'' but our 
priests are rich in splendid mass vestments, in palls, in 
robes, violet garments, red hats, and all possible gorgeous 
apparel that can be imagined, and the pope has a triple 
crown towering on his head, by which we are easily remind- 
ed of the pictures representing the tower of Babel. And 



OR THE TROSELYTES. JJl 

how much is there not in the church service, which seems 
to be intended merely to show off the priest before 
the people! Take the mass, for example. Does it not 
glorify the power of the priest, who through the act of 
consecration creates the body of the God-man, locks it in 
the pyx and carries it about, much more than the power of 
Christ, who subjects his body to the declaration of the priest, 
and more than the power of God, who obeys the declaration 
of the priest? — and the holy sacrament of confession; does 
it not much more establish the power of the priest, who can 
forgive and retain sins, open and shut the kingdom of hea- 
ven, than the mercy of God, who is gracious or not ac- 
cording to the command and judgment of the priest? 

Henry. — Antonio, cease, you are becoming a heretic ! 

Antonio. — Not exactly ; I am only translating the words 
of our Saviour into the language of our times; he says 
further; — v. 6, 7. "They love the uppermost rooms at feasts, 
and the chief seats in synagogues, and greetings in the 
markets, and to be called of men. Rabbi, Rabbi." — This 
suits our times ; the holy father, as vicegerent of God and 
Christ, claims a higher rank than all emperors and kings ; 
his legates desire to have the preference above the ambassa- 
dors of all other princes ; in the councils they look for the 
chief seats ! I remember perfectly well, with what triumph 
the good fathers in Naples who brought me up, used to tell 
me, that the mighty emperor Frederic Barbarossa in Venice 
held the stirrup while the pope mounted his horse, and that 
another emperor, Henry IV. stood three nights as a peni- 
tent in the open air, before Pope Gregory VH. at the castle 
of Canusium. At that time I rejoiced at this not a little. 
But hear now what the Saviour says to his disciples and 
apostles; — ver. 8-10. But be ye not called Rabbi; for one 
is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren ; and 
call no man your father upon the earth; for one is your fa- 
ther which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters; for 
one is your master, even Christ. 

I cannot but be convinced that Christ here spoke in pro- 



1 12 HENRY AND ANTONFO, 

phetic spirit of the Pope. For every word suits him, just 
as if it had been lately written. Tell me, what is the pro- 
per meaning of Rabbi ? 

Henry. — Rabbi was an honorary title of the Jewish 
teachers, and literally means, exalted, most excellent. 

Antonio. — You see it suits the cardinals, who bear the 
title of eminence, which precisely means exalted, most excel- 
lent. But when the Saviour says that they shall call no one 
father upon earth, for God alone is worthy of that distin- 
guished name, he certainly forbids us to call the Pope, holy 
father. If none of the apostles were permitted to bear 
that title, what authorizes their successors to bear it ? That 
epithet holy is also offensive to me. When the Saviour 
was addressed by one as ''good master,^' he reproved him, 
(Matt. xix. 16, 17.) and said "there is none good, but one, 
that is God." "Good master" is about equivalent to our 
present expression "holy father." With this phrase "holy 
father" Jesus prayed to God, (John xvii. 11.) and hence I 
maintain that it is wrong to apply it to a man. I will never 
again call the pope, holy father. Neither should he be call- 
ed the supreme head of the christian world, for it is said, 
"One is your master, or supreme head, even Christ." But 
hear further, ver. 13. "But wo unto you, scribes and pha- 
risees, hypocrites ! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven 
against men; for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer 
ye them that are entering to go in." This I translate in a 
two fold way. First, our priests shut up from the laity the 
writings of the evangelists and apostles, which show the 
way to the kingdom of Christ, yea, they are the very doors 
of it. They declare it as ruinous to the soul, if a layman 
wishes to read for himself, what his Saviour and the apos- 
tles said for all, and not only for the priests.* They them- 
selves do not read it, but rather the breviary, and the papal 
bulls, the canonists and the fathers of the church, and thus 
neither do they go in; for of the kingdom of heaven they 
have made an earthly kingdom with great treasures, many 

•See Appendix X. 



OR THE PROSELYTEa. 1 13 

subjects and royal splendor, in comparison to which the 
kingdom of heaven may appear to many a very poor thing. 
Secondly, they shut the kingdom of heaven, because they 
do not zealously exhort the people to a christian life, but so 
prominently hold forth the hearing of mass, fasting, a blind 
faith in the instructions of the priests, praying the pater 
noster and other such holy works, that christian virtue is 
overlooked. For what is the most shocking of our sins, 
when we confess to a priest ? — that we are passionate, en- 
vious, unfaithful,— that we lied, cheated, were unchaste, 
took unrighteous gain ? it is true, the priest does not justify 
all these, but we are absolved from them on easy penance. 
But tell him, that you ate meat on a fast day ; that you read 
a heretical book; that you laughed at a priest ; that you 
doubted the efficacy of the holy water or the picture of a 
virgin ; then you may be certain of not getting through 
without a severe penance, and you may take care lest you 
fall into the hands of the holy office. 

Verse 14. "Wo unto you, scribes and pharisees, for ye 
devour widow's houses, and for a pretence make long pray- 
ers; therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation." 

This verse reminds me of the incalculable treasures which 
our priesthood possess in most countries and which they have 
received from pious souls, to pray for them that they might 
be delivered from purgatory, to give them indulgence and 
secure heaven for them. A Spaniard belonging to the em- 
bassy to Rome once said, that the priesthood in Spain, had 
twice more income than the king. How it is in Italy, you 
know well enough. I have also heard of not a few instan- 
ces of rich widows who disinherited their poor relations, and 
bequeathed all their property to an order, monastery, or 
church, which is the same as to the priesthood. 

Verse 15. "Wo unto you, scribes and pharisees, hypo- 
crites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, 
and when he is made, ye make him two fold more the child 
of hell than yourselves." 
10* 



114 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

Henry. — You will not disprove of it, Antonio, that men 
attempt to convert tliose who have not the true faith ? 

Antonio. — Not in the least. Neither does Jesus mean 
that. The missionary societies for the heathen have always 
been much admired by me. What Jesus condemns, is 
partly, that the Jewish teachers sought to make a heathen 
not only a Jew, but a pharisee, and the latter was more 
important to them than the former; partly, that they com- 
passed sea and land not to make him a good man, but a 
pharisee. In this respect it suits our priesthood. Their 
zeal is not directed towards making christians, but Catho- 
lics. If an evangelical christian comes to Rome, immedi- 
ately the net is cast around him on all sides, just as if he 
were yet a heathen. To make a Catholic of him is so great 
a triumph, that the most degraded and dissolute subjects are 
not slighted, who as Catholics, are not a whit better than 
they were before, but often worse and more daring in ini- 
quity, because now, they hope by absolutions, indulgences 
and penances to be delivered from all guilt, which they did 
not l)elieve before. "To compass sea and land" also sig- 
nifies to employ all means, good or bad, to make a Catholic. 
You have also lived in Rome, and know that money, or 
a promise, or a marriage, or a pension, or protection, or an 
office, or any thing else is used as a means of making Catho- 
lics out of christians, that is, to induce them to hear mass, 
to fast, to pray the rosary, to adore the saints and Mary, and 
to regard all heretics as damned. For often the whole 
change of a man consists in nothing more than in the adop- 
tion of these external signs of Catholicism. 

Verse 16. "Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, 
whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but 
whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debt- 
or! — Ver. 18. And whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is 
nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon 
it, he is guilty." 

Here the Jesuits occurred to me, who constitute such a 
considerable, and now so highly esteemed a portion of our 



OR THE PROSELYTES. JJ5 

priesthood, and teach as did the pharisees, that a false oath 
'is nothing,' if only something else is thought of at the 
time, or something else added in thought. For example, if 
a man swear, that he had not done something, (although he 
had done it) he must only think at the same time, "not from 
my youth up — not at another time." The popes also occur 
to me, who often absolved subjects free from the oath of fi- 
delity to their monarchs, or monarchs from the oath sworn 
to their subjects, and generally claim the right of annulling 
an oath sworn before God. Pope Clemens the VI. gave 
authority to the confessor of the king of France, to absolve 
this king, his wife, and all his successors in consideration 
of some works of penance, from all oaths, the observance 
of which would be unpleasant, only with the the exception 
of the oaths and vows relating to religious affairs. This 
the good fathers in Naples related to me as a proof of the 
great power of the pope, and I admired it very much at that 
time. But now, I think when one has sworn by the Al- 
mighty, it is a most heinous sin, if a man undertakes to ab- 
solve him from it, and that such a man thereby insolently 
elevates himself above God. The good fathers also told 
me, for the purpose of inspiring me with reverence for the 
saints, that Lewis the XI. King of France, believed himself 
bound by no oath, but one sworn by the relics of the holy 
Lupus, and they maintained, that an oath was much more 
holy and binding if taken by the relics of a saint or martyr. 

Verse 23. Woe unto you, scribes and pharisees, hypo- 
crites ! for ye pay tithe of mint, and annise and cummin, 
and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judg- 
ment, mercy and faith; these ought ye to have done, and 
not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which 
strain at a gnat and swallow a camel." 

This the note in my New Testament beautifully explains 
thus; "of trifles you make a great deal, of important mat- 
ters nothing." This text has already been illustrated by 
what has been said. In the view of our priesthood it is a 
greater sin, not to hear the mass, than not to hear the voice 



\IQ HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

of justice and philanthropy; to refuse obedience to the 
priests, than to deny fidelity to God and man; to eat flesh 
during a fast, tlian to be unchaste. 

Verse 25. "Woe unto you, scribes and pharisees, hyo- 
crites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and plat- 
ter, but within tiiey are full of extortion and excess." 

This lelates to the great importance which our priests at- 
tach to fasting and other mere external works of penance, 
which do not reform the internal man, but leave him full of 
all moral uncleanness. And the matter becomes still worse, 
for fasting is ranked amongst those exercises, by which 
men can atone for sin and remove its punishment, that is, 
punishment for uncleanness of heart. 

Henry. — But Jesus himself fasted, and so did the apos- 
tles. Shall not then the christian do it? Have you not read 
that the Saviour once fasted forty days, and do you not 
know, that on this the great quadragesimal fast was founded ? 

Antonio. — I know that very well. But there is still a 
great difference. First, Christ and the apostles did it volun- 
tarily; hence every christian should be left free. Again ; 
Christ did it on an extraordinary occasion, when by severe 
examination he prepared himself for the hardships which 
he was to endure from man. Further; Jesus and the apos- 
tles did not practice it as something meritorious, as atoning 
for sin, or removing punishment. Finally, they fasted so, 
that they became hungry. But in our fasting we are satis- 
fied, yea, crammed full. For our fasting is abstinence from 
flesh, just as if that prevented devotion, for it oppress no 
stomach and is easy of digestion. On the other hand, we 
eat all kind of indigestible food made of flour, and other 
victuals prepared in all the refinements of cookery, which 
only oppress the stomach and stupefy the mind. Is not 
this rank folly? And who can persuade himself, that the 
flesh of fish, which the Catholic fast allows, is not flesh ? 
I should like to know, how our church came to the singular 
fancy of declaring that the flesh of fish is not flesh ? 



OR THE PROSELYTES. JJ^ 

Henry. — It was believed justifiable to except fish in the 
prohibition of eating flesh, because Jesus in the wilderness^ 
according to Matt. xiv. 19. where he probably fasted, had 
bread and fish with him, and because after his resurrection 
according to John xxi. 10, 13. he also ate bread and fish. 
Reference was also made to what Paul says, (1 Cor. xv. 
39.) All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind 
of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, 
and another of birds." 

Antonio. — Let us examine these passages of scripture 
a little more closely. Where is it recorded in Matt. xiv. 
19. that Jesus then fasted? There is not a single trace of 
it in the text, and the conjecture is altogether gratuitous. 
But that he had fishes, was not his mere choice, but the 
consequence of his being with the apostles at the sea of 
Gennesaret, as the 13th and 22nd verses clearly show. The 
same may be said of John xxi. 10, 13. where the Redeemer 
ate fish with the apostles for this reason, because they had 
just caught some in the sea. As it respects the passage, 
1 Cor. XV. 39. it is almost ridiculous to apply it to this sub- 
ject. The apostle wishes to show, that the future body at 
the resurrection will not be formed like the present body, 
and illustrated it by examples, namely, that already in the 
form of earthly bodies there is a great diff'erence. He does 
not seek this difference in the flesh of four footed beasts, 
fishes and birds, but in the diff"erence of the form and the 
parts of their body. But this you must acknowledge, that 
the apostle ascribes a body to fishes, consequently it is ab- 
solutely ridiculous to conclude from that, that the body of 
fishes is not flesh. 

Henry. — But, Antonio, do you not consider it an exer- 
cise well pleasing to God and conducive to self govern- 
ment, if we occasionally abstain from palatable food ? The 
genuine christian, who desires to gratify his lusts, must first 
be strong enough to to deny his palate the accustomed food. 
Antonio. — That may be, if it is voluntary, and not 
compulsory; it might answer, if men did not substitute for 



118 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

flesh a variety of other delicate victuals. But that men 
please God by a selection of particular food ; that they de- 
file themselves on a fast-day by food which is allowed on 
other days; that especially there is somBthing meritorious 
in it; this, dear sir, I no longer believe, because the Saviour 
and his apostles have taught me differently. For Jesus 
says, Matt. xv. II, 18—20, "not that which goeth into the 
mouth, defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the 
mouth; this defileth a man. But those things which pro- 
ceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they de- 
file the man ; for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, 
murders, adulteries, fornications, theft, false witnesses, blas- 
phemies. These are things which defile a man. But to eat 
with unwashed hands defileth not a man." So then it is not 
eating flesh. For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, 
says Paul, Romans xiv. 17, but righteousness and peace, 
and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these serv- 
eth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men." — 
This is surely expressive language of the apostle, according 
to which no essential importance should ever have been 
attached to fasting and other works of penance. Yea, the 
same apostle warns us against teachers of false doctrines, 
I Tim. iv. 3, who "forbid to marry and command to abstain 
from meats, which God hath created to be received with 
thajiks giving," and he assures us, ver. 8, "that bodily exer- 
cise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, 
having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is 
to come." I will fast no more, dear sir; but I will exercise 
myself in godliness. 

Verse 29. "Woe unto you scribes and pharisees, hypo- 
crites ! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and gar- 
nish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, if we had 
been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been 
partakers with them in the blood of the prophets." 

When I think how many churches, chapels, and monas- 
teries, are dedicated to the Saviour, the mother Mary, the 
apostles, the saints and martyrs amongst us, and what great 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 



119 



honor we pay them, it has often occurred to me how it 
would be, if in our day, Jesus, or Peter and Paul were to re- 
visit some rigid Catholic country, for instance, Spain or 
Italy, and were to teach the same things, which we now 
read in the writings of the evangelists and apostles? wheth- 
er they would be regarded as good christians, or not rather as 
heretics, if they administered the cup in the sacrament, at- 
tached no particular importance to fasting, called none fa- 
ther or holy father, made eternal life dependent on obe- 
dience to the commandments of God, and recognised no 
pope, no service of the saints, or mass, holy water, monas- 
tic life, penance, indulgences, auricular confession, and 
many other things, by which Catholics are now distinguish- 
ed? I should think that the Saviour and the apostles would 
not be permitted to come to Spain or Italy, and would be 
acknowledged as good christians only here among the Pro- 
testants — in Spain or Italy they would certainly fall into 
the hands of the inquisition, and be regarded by the pope, 
as Jesus was regarded by the Jewish high priest Caiaphas. 

Henry. — Antonio, you are surely no longer a Catholic, 
you have become a Protestant ! take care and do not let 
your opinions be known ! 

Antonio. — Whether 1 am yet a Catholic or have already 
become a Protestant, I really do not know myself. But this 
I know, that I am a christian, and am truly a genuine chris- 
tian, for I have been taught by the discourses of Christ in 
the evangelists, and by the doctrine of the apostles in their 
writings alone. I do not appear to myself to be a Catholic 
any more, at least I am not a good one. But I do not give 
myself any trouble about that, if I only dare believe that 
I am a good christian. But I must speak about it, dear sir; 
the truth must not be concealed, so that others also may be 
brought to acknowledge it, and not be strengthened in their 
errors. 

Henry. — It may do well enough here in Germany ; but 
in Italy you would soon be silenced. 



120 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

Antonio. — Bad enough, that there they know no better 
means of maintaining their faith, than by force. It does 
not become the successor of the apostle Peter to employ 
force ; for when Peter (Matt. xxvi. 51, &/C.) drew his sword 
in defence of Jesus, the Lord said "put up again thy sword 
into his place ; for all they that take the sword, shall perish 
by the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my 
father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve le- 
gions of angels?" I should think, that thus the pope should 
wait, until God promotes the true faith, in a proper manner 
and not by force. Jesus did not establish an inquisition, 
he did not allow it, he did not command it, he did not em- 
ploy it. 

Henry. — I see, Antonio, that you are so well versed in 
the scriptures, that you have an answer for every thing. 
But you do wrong, in confining yourself exclusively to the 
bible. For we have tradition, which from the apostles 
through the bishops and holy church fathers has come down 
to us, which we must highly honor, for it determines many 
things, of which the New Testament contains nothing, and 
settles other things besides. 

Antonio. — To discuss and judge the subject of tradition, 
requires more learning than I possess. But this I know, that 
it dare not contradict that, v/hich the evangelists and apos- 
tles have written, for then they must have contradicted 
themselves ; and that a knowledge of and belief in tradi- 
tion are not reckoned among the things demanded as neces- 
sary to salvation. For in none of the many passages in 
which we are taught what is essential to salvation, is one 
word said about tradition. The whole matter appears to 
me very strange. Suppose your father had made a written 
will in presence of a magistrate and honest witnesses, and 
after his death there should come one of his friends and say 
'your father also made an oral will and entrusted it to me, 
and in it, he has appointed me your guardian, transferred 
to me a portion of his paternal privileges, and has left me 
a handsome legacy;' what would you think .^ If the oral 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 121 

will frequently contradicted the written one, annulled many 
parts of it, contained a number of additional articles, made 
new dispositions of the property, and finally, was very much 
to the advantage of the man, who said your father had en- 
trusted it to him ; would you attach as much credit to it as 
to the written one? Or would any person find fault with you 
for adhering exclusively to the written one ? 

Henry. — Your simile is lame, Antonio, 

Antonio. — It may be lame, but it goes! I wish it would 
go into your heart! 

Henry. — I really believe, you wish that I should abandon 
Catholicism. 

Antonio. — I wish you were as I am, a disciple of Christ 
and the apostles, and ceased being a disciple of the pope 
and the priesthood. 

Henry. — Then you are no longer the latter? 

Antonio. — No ! I am no longer such unconditionally, 
only in as far as I see, that our priests teach the doctrines of 
the New Testament. 

Henry. — Then you are evangelical! 

Antonio. — It may be ; but the gospel was in existence 
before the pope and all the cardinals. — (With deep solemni- 
ty) Sir! I am a poor orphan, I stand alone in the world; 
my kindred are also unknown to me — 1 was left truly 
destitute. You are my only friend on earth! But even 
at the peril of being dismissed by you, I will not con- 
ceal from you, what is in my heart. (With excitement) 
Really, sir, I have become a better man, even though T yet 
may be a sinner ; a faithful servant also have you got in me. 
Hear, what occurred to me, when I left Rome with you. I 
cannot conceal it from you any longer. I once more con- 
fessed to father M , who belongs to the Jesuits, and re- 
quested his blessing on my journey. "Go in God's name, 
my son," said he, — '^but do not forget, what you owe the 
holy mother, the church. You are in the service of a stray- 
ing sheep, which has but lately been brought to the true 
faith. Much of the poison of heresy imbibed in his youth 
11 



222 HEPmY AND ANTONIO, 

yet remains in him, and it is to be feared that he will again 
be drawn over to the cursed Lutheran heresy by his family 
and friends. The mother of God has enjoined it upon you, 
as a good Catholic, to watch over his faith. Observe him 
closely ; pry into the conversation between him and his family 
and friends ; if they become too familiar, dexterously try to 
excite discord and mistrust between them. You may also 
employ falsehood, for it is not sin, when it is done for the 
honor of God, and the church will absolve you from it. 
But above all, my son, do not neglect to communicate every 
thing that occurs to your master, to the reverend father N. 
who will give you further instructions. But this correspon- 
dence you must keep secret, and especially do not let your 
master discover that you are watching him. Be zealous 
and wise, my son, you shall be well rewarded. The rever- 
end father will faithfully provide for you." At that time, 
dear sir, when I received this commission, I was very glad, 
and believed I would perform a good work and merit heav- 
en, if I executed it. But since this book was presented to 
me in Frankfurt, and I have read it, I have changed ray 
mind. You can be easy! I will not betray you, I will not 
sow discord between you and your parents, neither will I 

write to father N . 

Henry ordered his servant to withdraw, for he did not 
wish him to be the witness of emotions which he was not 
able to overcome. He felt ashamed and indignant, that his 

servant had been employed to watch him. Father N 

was a bosom friend of Rossi, who had converted him. He 
saw plainly that both priests had acted in concert. He had 
become a Catholic from such honest and deep conviction, 
that it mortified him exceedingly, that any should yet doubt 
his sincerity and firmness. This apprehension of theirs ap- 
peared to him at the same time irreconcilable with a good 
cause, which trusts alone to its merits. And then, the com- 
mission about the secret correspondence and discord with 
his parents ! With what snares was he beset, if Antonio 
was not honest ! He felt it painfully, that they did not seek 



OE THE PROSELYTES, 123 

him, but the honor of the church, and it now was clear to 
him, what a friend once said to him, that they make prose- 
lytes, not that they may be saved, but that the church may 
be filled. 



CHAPTER XI. 

TRADITION AND THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE CHURCH. 

When the father returned, the evening conversations 
were resumed, and the subject of discussion was the sour- 
ces of our knowledge of the christian religion, Henry main- 
tained that besides the Holy Scriptures, tradition was a 
source of this knowledge, and defined tradition to be, that 
oral instruction in matters of faith, morals, church ceremo- 
nies and church government given by the apostles and trans- 
mitted by the christian bishops in an uninterrupted series. 
He said this was an essential point in the faith of Catholics, 
and hence the Council of Trent has established it; (in the 
first decree of session 4.) "The holy synod adopts all the 
books of the Old and New Testaments, and the traditions, 
those which relate to faith, as well as those which relate to 
morals, with equal pious reverence. He who wilfully rejects 
the traditions, let him be accursed." 

The father acknowledged that he was not well acquainted 
with the nature of tradition, and requested Bernhard to 
converse with Henry on that subject, with which he readily 
complied. 

Henry. — You will grant, dear friend, that the apostles, 
when they taught in the churches, must have said many 
more things than we now find in their epistles. 

Bernhard. — More? certainly; but whether any thing 
else, than their epistles contain, is a question, the affirmative 
of which you cannot prove. 



124 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

Henry. — I am satisfied with the more, which you grant. 
You will further acknowledge, that all the epistles are mere- 
ly occasional writings, in which the apostles do not treat of 
the whole system of faith and morals, but only partially, just 
as they found occasion in the circumstances of the churches. 

Bernhard. — That I cannot wholly grant. It does not 
apply at least to the evangelists, the epistles to the Romans 
and Hebrews, neither to the epistle of James, nor the first 
of John, for their general design is to instruct the reader in 
all that relates to Christ and his doctrines. 

Henry. — But you will grant, that Paul refers to this oral 
instruction which he gave to the churches. (^Thes.ii. 15. 
1 Cor. xi. 2, 23.. 24. 1. Tim. vi. 20.) 

Bernhard. — I grant this, and confess that we Protestants 
would diligently search and highly esteem this oral instruc- 
tion, if we had it, for it would afford an explanation of 
many parts of the apostolic writings. We only regret, that 
this instruction is lost, and that there is no where any credi- 
ble account of it. 

Henry. — What? do you not know that this is the tradi- 
tion of the Catholic church, that it was transmitted by the 
bishops, and gradually introduced into the writings of the 
church fathers and into the decrees of the councils. 

Bernhard. — This your church maintains, but it is not 
so. I have read the church fathers, and know how it is 
with respect to tradition.* 

Henry. — But you must admit the general ground for tra- 
dition, namely; whatever was believed by christians at all 
times, and all places, from the beginning of Christianity, must 
necessarily be regarded as having been taught by the apostles 
themselves. For it would be impossible, that an error should 
have become a general doctrine from the beginning. 

Bernhard. — I can admit all that, and yet you will gain 
nothing by it. What was taught in the beginning by all 
christians, that the apostolic confession contains, which 

•See Appendix XI. 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 125 

our church also possesses. It is that which the fathers until 
the third century call the tradition of faith; that was the 
general faith of all churches, to which they appeal, and 
which they oppose to the new doctrine of the heretics. 
Nothing else. They have nothing of your mass, the adora- 
tion of saints, the pope and his power, purgatory, confes- 
sion and absolution, withholding the cup in the Lord's sup- 
per, transubstantiation, seven sacraments, indulgence, pil- 
grimages, the rosary, holy water, and I boldly challange you 
to the proof, that any of the church fathers of the first four 
centuries ever appealed to tradition with respect to these 
things. On the contrary you will find, that it is the doctrine 
of the apostolical confession or a similar short summary of 
general doctrine, that they understand by tradition.. 

Henry. — I can scarcely believe this. 

Bernhard. — Then only hear. The great church father 
Tertullian who flourished at the end of the second, and be- 
ginning of the third century, contends in his book de Prae- 
scriptioiie against the errorists of his time, who gave out 
that their doctrine — they were the so called Gnostics, who 
boasted of superior wisdom — was taught by the apostles as 
a secret doctrine. Tertullian on the contrary maintains that 
those churches, v/hich were undoubtedly founded by the 
apostles, knew nothing of that kind, but taught differently, 
and that the general doctrine of the apostolic churches must 
be regarded as the ''rule of faith'' (regulafidei.) He calls 
tradition the rule of faith, but he also mentions, what it con- 
tains. This he does in the 13th chapter of his book, where 
it is said ; 

''The rule of truth is this; there is but owe God, and 
besides him there is no creator of the world ; who made all 
things out of nothing, by his word; as the word, also called 
Son of God, he was at different times seen by the patriarchs, 
and heard by the prophets, but at last descended into the 
Virgin Mary, became flesh, and was born as the man Jesus 
Christ; who afterwards proclaimed a new law and anew 
promise of the kingdom of heaven j was crucified, rose on 
11* 



126 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

the third day and ascended to heaven, and sits at the right 
hand of God; who sends the power of the Holy Ghost in 
His stead, by whom believers are directed; who will come 
again, to bring the saints to eternal life and the enjoyment 
of the promised heavenly rewards, but to condemn the un- 
holy to everlasting fire, after both with the restoration of 
their bodies shall have risen again. This rule (of faith) 
proceeds from Christ, &c/' 

Besides Tertullian, let us only hear the celebrated bishop 
of Lyons, Irenaus, who died about the year 202, and who 
in his book against the heretics also refers to the tradition 
of the general church, and in the lOth chapter of the first book 
writes the following confession, which he also (in ch. 22nd) 
calls the rule of truth, 

"The church dispersed over the whole earth was taught 
by the apostles and their disciples, that there is but one God, 
the Almighty Father, the maker of heaven and of earth, and 
the sea, and all that is in them ; and one Jesus Christ, the 
Son of God, who became flesh for our salvation ; and the 
Holy Ghost who through the prophets proclaimed the insti- 
tution of the new covenant, the advent of Christ, his birth 
from a virgin, his sufferings, his resurrection, his bodily 
ascension to heaven, and his second coming, that he might 
complete all things, awaken all men, — hold a righteous 
judgment over all, — consign the wicked to everlasting fire, 
but to give life and immortality to the righteous and holy, 
and to all such as have kept his commandments." This faith, 
adds Irenaeus, ''the christian churches in all countries held as 
unanimously, as if they had all lived in one house. Let the 
learned alter nothing of the sense ©f this faith, but only 
seek to illustrate it further." 

From the latter you see, dear friend, that at that time they 
had no tradition about the more specific explanation of 
these doctrines, and that the faith generally adopted by the 
old church fathers was nothing more than what is here set 
down, all of which agrees precisely with the apostolic creed, 
and that, as no man will deny, accords perfectly with the 



OR THE PROSELYTES. JCJT 

New Testament. Every thing additional, then, which was 
subsequently introduced under the name of tradition, was 
not transmitted from antiquity, but is newly invented doctrine, 
which can by no means be regarded as apostolic. With 
respect to the more explicit illustration of these doctrines, 
which, as Irenaeus says, was left free to the opinions of 
the learned, there was so little unanimity among the church 
fathers, that the Jesuit Daniel Petau in his learned work on 
the doctrines of faith himself grants, that it is uncertain what 
the fathers of the first four centuries taught about the di- 
vinity of the Son and of the Spirit. The monk Paul Sarpi 
also says in his celebrated history of your principal council, 
that of Trent, that the bishops assembled there were very 
doubtful what authority they should ascribe to tradition, and 
that only at last the numerous Italian bishops and their well 
directed threats brought it about, that the council ascribed 
equal authority to tradition with the scriptures. 

Henry. — I must indeed grant you all this, but still I jus- 
tify the judicial authority of tradition, by the infallibility of 
the church, even if this authority was established at a later 
day. The church has the spirit of God and hence cannot 
err, and Paul himself calls her (1 Tim. iii. 15.) the pillar 
and ground of the truth. 

Bernhard. — As respects this passage, Paul can call the 
church the pillar of truth, that is, of the christian doctrine, 
and yet nothing follows from it in favor of her infallibility. 
For it is the church, through which the christian doctrine 
is maintained and propagated in the world. Without the 
christian church the existence of Christianity cannot be 
conceived. But the words, "pillar and ground of the truth" 
do not even belong to the word church, but to the following 
verse. That, the Catholic translator of the New Testament, 
Van Ess, has himself acknowledged, and has properly united 
them with the following verse. He has it, "The mystery 
of godliness is the pillar and ground of the truth, and 
without controversy, great, &c." But when you say that 



128 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

the church has the spirit of God, and hence is infallible, I 
ask you, whom do you comprehend as the church ? 

Henry. — The bishops assembled in council. 

Bernhard. — Have the priests alone the spirit of God and 
not also the laity ? 

Henry. — The priests alone for the decision of doctrines, 
for in that the laity have no voice. But for sanctification, 
the laity have also the spirit of God. 

Bernhard. — But does not John write to all christians, 
(I Ep. ii. 20.) ''Ye have an unction from the Holy One and 
know all things." Does not Paul say to all christians at 
Ephesus, (Ephes. i. 16.) I cease not to give thanks for you, 
making mention of you in my prayers, that the father of 
glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation 
in the knowledge of him ; the eyes of your understanding 
being enlightened that ye may know what is the hope of his 
calling, &c. and on what grounds will you divide the gift 
of the spirit, which affords both wisdom and sanctification ? 
and appropriate to the priests the wisdom, and to the 
laity, only the sanctification ? Who are ye, that ye thus 
prescribe to the spirit of God, and set limits to his op- 
erations? And can there be sanctification, without know- 
ledge ? Have not your councils determined what belongs 
to sanctification, when they gave their decision about 
penance, forgiveness of sins, the duty of unconditional 
faith in their declarations, and other things ? And now, 
dear friend, in what light will the infallibility of this priest- 
hood appear, if you enquire into the contradictions of 
which they are guilty ? A few examples will suffice. The 
doctrine of Arius was condemned by the council of Nice 
in 325, but was declared as true by the council of Antioch 
in 341, and was finally again condemned by the council of 
Constantinople in 381, through the influence of the Empe- 
ror Theodosius. The doctrine of Eutychus prevailed at 
the council of Ephesus in 449, and was afterwards condemn- 
ed at the council of Chalcedon in 451. The great councils 
of Constance (1414) and Basle (1431) solemnly declared 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 129 

that a general council was superior to the Pope, and the 
high priests at Rome declared with equal solemnity in their 
bulls, that that was a wicked heresy. Where then is the 
infallibility of the priesthood? And is not the whole priest- 
hood of the eastern church in continual controversy with 
the western priesthood on many points of faith ? You may 
now then give up this infallibility. 

Henry. — But if you hold the church as fallible, then 
the case might occur, that she would embrace errors, and 
they would gradually become so numerous, that the truth 
would be wholly obscured, yea, finally altogether lost. Thus 
the object of Christianity would be totally frustrated, which 
God cannot permit, and hence it is reasonable to infer that 
by his spirit he would make the church infallible. 

Bernhard. — The church is composed of men, and all 
men are subject to error, consequently also the priests. 
But such an exclusive order of men as the priesthood of 
the Catholic church, is exposed to double danger of erring, 
because it has an interest peculiar to itself — a party inte- 
rest, and it is very natural and almost unavoidable that its 
own advantage would sway its judgment, and influence all 
decisions. This party interest is promoted to an extraordi- 
nary extent by the fact that the supreme head of the Catho- 
lic priests has a temporal kingdom in Italy, and the priests 
themselves in all Catholic countries, France excepted, pos- 
sess extensive landed property, and in Spain, 1 might say, 
a kingdom in a kingdom. It would in truth be demanding 
something super-human, if we were to ask the priests to 
abolish and declare as erroneous, ceremonies, customs, and 
opinions, which are of great advantage to them ; on the other 
hand, it is very natural that in their councils they should ratify, 
or at least not reject every thing which their power and 
wealth can secure, and strive to maintain it. So that we can- 
not think it strange of the popes, that they as kings of the ec- 
clesiastical state, would never recognise the principle, that 
a general council was superior to them and could depose 
them. Easy as it is for an exclusive order of men actuated 



130 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

by feelings of party interest to err, yet on the other hand it 
is difficult for the whole christian world to err, or that it 
should long continue in error, if only the investigation of 
truth is not hindered by prohibitions, or these investigations 
prematurely terminated by establishing unalterable articles 
of faith. Easy as it is for an individual to err, yet the crea- 
tor has bestowed so much understanding upon men gene- 
rally, that sooner or later they will be delivered from error, 
and finally discover the truth. Great as has been the num- 
ber of errorists, by you called heretics, from the first cen- 
tury to the present day, yet Christianity has always con- 
tinued to exist, and will yet longer endure. The infallibili- 
ty imputed by you to the priesthood only makes the matter 
worse in every respect. That the priesthood is not infalli- 
ble, we have already seen, and history abundantly proves it. 
Even all the principal heretics came out of this infallible 
priesthood. The great presbyter, Tertullian became a Mon- 
tanist. The arch-heretic Arius was a presbyter in Alexan- 
dria; Apolinaris, bishop of Laodicea; Paul of Samosata, 
bishop of Antioch; Netorious, bishop of Constantinople; 
Maletuis, bishop of Antioch, all these became heretics and 
founders of heresies. The bishops of half the christian 
world were Arians in the middle of the fourth century, and 
were deposed en masse by the emperor Theodosius. The 
great and lasting heresies on the doctrine of the trinity and 
the two natures in Christ, were particularly prevalent among 
the priesthood and not among the laity, and the whole 
priesthood was on account of these heresies split into par- 
ties, which mutually condemned each other at councils. 
How can men ascribe infallibility to such a priesthood? — 
And who originated the idea of this infallibility ? Not the 
laity, but the priesthood itself? You see then, that the tra- 
dition of the Catholic church, the truth of which is ground- 
ed on the infallibility of the priesthood, has no foundation, 
and that the Evangelical church is perfectly right in holding 
to the written word of God in the holy scriptures, but not 
to that which a fallible priesthood in later ages wishes to 
declare as the word of God. 



OR THE PROSELYTES. |31 

Henry. — You have completely vanquished me, dear 
friend, and I really do not know what more to oppose to 
your arguments. It is true that half of the priesthood of 
the christian world was once Arian, and it was only the po- 
litical usurpation of the emperor Theodosius that overthrew 
the Arian bishops. That I certainly do not know how to 
reconcile with the infallibility of tradition and of the priest- 
hood. 

Father. — I can add another ground, my son, which 
was always sufficiently strong to me as a layman, to reject 
that tradition professedly transmitted by the priesthood. 
Amongst the Jews in the time of Christ there was also an 
oral tradition, to which the Pharisees and Scribes attached 
great importance, and through which, just as in the Catho- 
lic church, many ceremonies, opinions and precepts were 
established, which the Mosaic law did not contain. But 
Jesus rejected this tradition most decisively ; only read 
Matthew, xv. 1 — 9. 

Henry. — But the Mosaic law contained every thing the 
Jew was to believe and practice. But it cannot be proved, 
that it was the object of the writers of the New Testament, 
that it should contain every thing which the christian must 
believe and practice. Hence tradition was necessary to 
supply what was wanting. 

Father. — There is nothing wanting. You have heard 
that until the fourth century, that only was regarded as es- 
sential christian faith, which our apostles' creed contains, 
and that was distinguished by the name of tradition. All 
this you will find complete and full in the writings of the 
evangelists and apostles. You will also scarcely deny that 
the gospels were written for the instruction of those who 
desire to become christians, and certainly contain every 
thing which is necessary to be known for salvation. 

Mother. — On this matter we have decisive testimony in 
John XX. 30, &c. where it is said ; "And many other signs 
truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are 
not written in this book ; but these are written that ye 



132 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

might believe, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and 
that believing ye might have life through his name. " 

The Saviour also says, John xvii. 3. "And this is life eter- 
nal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Je- 
sus Christ, whom thou hast sent." And on these subjects 
the scriptures surely give us full and sufficient instruction. 

Henry. — You always drive me from the field with the 
scriptures, dear mother, and I see that you are as conversant 
with the scriptures as ever. But still I think I can easily 
prove, that the bible is a very unsafe source of knowledge 
of the christian faith. But I think we had better postpone 
this subject until to-morrow. 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE NECESSITY OF AN INFALLIBLE JUDGE TO UNITY OF FAITH— 
THE FREEDOM OF OPINION AMONG PROTESTANTS. 

Henry. — It occasioned me not a little uneasiness when 
Rossi incidentally brought forward the following argument 
against the Evangelical church. 

"The Evangelical church holds exclusively to the bible 
and rejects the authority of the infallible church. But the 
bible is written in dead languages and must be explained. 
But who will explain it ? Your theologians ever since the 
reformation have contended about a great number of pas- 
sages, and are not even now agreed ; and they never will 
be of one opinion, because to effect unity there must be an 
infallible interpreter, which we have in the church and tra- 
dition. With you, every theplogian proposes his private 
opinions, and you have nearly as many theological systems 
as learned divines. Nothing but confusion arises from such 
a Btate of things. What one adopts, the other rejects ; ma- 
ny will not approve of any thing in the christian system, 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 



133 



which cannot be proved by the light of reason ; some try to 
explain away from the scriptures the doctrine respecting the 
devil, others, the miracles and prophecies, and others, this and 
that doctrine. Your creeds do not bind your teachers, for 
you desire freedom of conscience and of investigation. 
The consequence is, that the most diverse opinions and ca- 
prices are published, so that the people do not know what 
to believe, — they become confused and finally believe no- 
thing at all. Hence, your liberty in teaching what you 
please, your want of an infallible judge in matters of faith 
is a great evil, which will yet lead to the total dissolution of 
your church. This evil can only be opposed by abolishing 
all freedom of instruction ; by unconditionally submitting to 
an infallible judge of faith, whose decisions dare not be in- 
vestigated, and even the grounds of which dare not be asked. 
This judge of faith we have in the pope and priesthood, 
whose declarations all must submit to, without the liberty 
of examining them. By this means the valuable blessing of a 
perfect unity of faith is secured to us. What one believes, 
all believe ; one and the same creed is adopted by all, 
and what is once established as an article of faith by a coun- 
cil of priests, that can never become a subject of doubt." 

I knew nothing satisfactory that I could reply to my 
friend. What say you to it? 

Father. — I would first reply by merely denying that your 
vaunted infallible judge of faith, the pope, and the priests, 
ever accomplished that which you attribute to them. For 
as respects the interpretation of the scriptures, men were 
never of the same opinion in the church. 

Bernhard. — Only read the commentaries of Clemens of 
Alexandria, Tertullian, Augustin, then in later ages, those 
of the scholastics, and you will find that they are much- 
much more discordant, than the commentaries of the pre- 
sent theologians can possibly be. The reason of this is, 
that the principles of correct scripture interpretation were 
unknown. But since these have gradually become better 
known in the Evangelical church, and more firmly establish- 
12 



jo^ HENRY AND ANTCKIO; 

ed, divines have become more unanimous on the sense of 
the scriptures, and this unanimity would be more general, if 
there were not always some, who are anxious to make the 
scriptures say what they wish, or think they ought to have 
laid. But such foolish caprices as the church fathers had 
by thousands, and which the Romish church declares as obli- 
gatory, none of our theologians now dare to utter ; for in- 
stance, when Clemens of Alexandria, (Paedagog III. 10.) 
employs the words of the Saviour, Matt, xviii. 20. ("Where 
two or three are gathered together in my name, there I will 
be in the midst of them,") to prove that marriage is pleas- 
ing in the sight of God, and interprets the word ''three'' as 
meaning the husband, the wife and their child 1 Or when 
Irenaeus (Again&t heretics, IV. 12.) explains the three spies 
whom Rahab sheltered at Jericho, to be the Father, Son 
and Holy Ghost. But when you say, that we have almost 
as many theological systems as distinguished divines, 1 re- 
ply that the case was not different in the early church, and 
in the Romish church. Tertullian had a different system 
from Clemens and Origin ; Augustin had another ; Gregory 
Nazianus still another. Amongst the Scholastics, Anselm, 
Thomas, John Erigena, Duns Scotus, Occam, Biel and 
others until the reformation, all had their peculiar systems. 
The popes and the priesthood could as little prevent this 
as an uncounted number of so called heresies,. the majority 
of which proceeded from this priesthood itself. Of what 
avail then was your infallible priesthood to you ? It did not 
prevent a difference of opinion ; this it could not do, but 
the fact of the matter was essentially this ; the majority 
always persecuted and condemned the minority, and the 
party that was put down by force was always wrong and 
heretical, and the party that conquered was orthodox, and 
right. This, in a few words, is the history of your, ecclesi- 
astical infallibility, which exhibits your position of the utility 
of an infallible judge of faith in. all its nakedness. 

WiLHELMiNA. — I should think that it requires two parties 
to complete this matter ; one which maintains its infallibili- 



Otl THE fROSfiLYTES. I35 

ty, — the Other which believes it, and blindly subjects itself. 
Of what avail is infallibility to the first, if the second does 
not believe it and takes the liberty of judging for itself ? 
Hence the unity of faith is but little promoted by your in- 
fallible Pope and his bishops, if they have no means of 
convincing the laity of their infallibility. What means 
have the Popes used for that purpose ? 

Henry was confused and did not reply. 

Father. — According to history, the means were outlaw- 
ry, sentences of condemnation, the inquisition, and perse- 
cutions of every kind, which the Popes, the clergy and the 
princes who aided them, brought down upon the refractory 
with tremendous violence. 

WiLHELMiNA.-— In that they showed their infallibility 
pretty much as our neighbor the wild blacksmith, who is ac- 
customed to convince his wife of the correctness of his 
opinions, with a« iron rod. 

Father. — The refractory were silenced, and with that 
the priests were satisfied. They did not certainly con- 
vince them, for as is Avell known, conviction cannot be 
forced. The Romish priesthood has itself experienced 
that ; for to this very hour the controversy is prosecuted, 
whether the Pope is always infallible, or only in certain 
cases ? — whether he can be judged by a general church 
council ? Whether his decrees alone are valid, or only after 
ratification by the church ? Whether he alone is the bishop 
of the church and all other bishops only his vicars, or wheth- 
er he is only first among the bishops, and equal with them? 
The popes indeed, have decided all these to their own ad- 
vantage, and have declared the contrary opinion as hereti- 
cal, but the other bishops have never yet believed them. 
They have rather expressed the opposite opinion, but that 
the popes again have not believed. Hence the infallible 
priests have never yet been able to maintain or even to pro- 
duce unity of faith among themselves, to say nothing of the 
Jaity. 



136 HENRY AND ANTONIO^ 

Henry. — I see plainly, that the Romish priesthood could 
not create a perfect unity of faith. But it is certainly very 
natural that controversies about faith should be decided by 
the clergy. 

Father. — Certainly, but only by argument and good 
reasons^ and not that their decisions should be arbitrary and 
subjected to no further examination. For no man can be 
obligated to a blind faith. It is immoral to regard any thing 
as a duty, of the propriety of which you are not convinced. 
Jesus and the apostles do not demand a blind faith. 

Henry. — But Paul writes to Timothy who was bishop of 
Crete, (Tit. i. 9 — 13,) that he should '^stop the mouths'^ of 
"gainsayers." Yea, in verse 13, he says, ''rebuke them sharply 
that they may be sound in the faith." In this he certainly 
authorizes the bishops to employ severity in holding gain- 
sayers to the faith. 

Father. — You draw a very unsound, I may say, a foolish 
conclusion, my son. The apostle is only speaking to Titus 
about rebuking the perverse ; and because the Cretans 
were as the apostle says, (vr. 12.) "evil beasts and slow 
bellies," he admonishes him, (vr. 13.) "to rebuke them 
sharply," that is, for their immoral and licentious practices. 
But thus to rebuke, does not mean "to employ severity in 
keeping them to the faith." Titus was only commissioned 
to teach and to rebuke, but it is not said, you must with all 
severity insist upon others, that they believe what you say, 
for what you and other bishops say is infallible, and the 
laity are bound unconditionally to believe it. This is what 
your priests maintain, and by which they set themselves up 
against the apostle's will, as lords of your faith! 

Henry. — But surely the apostles did not allow the laity 
to examine and judge what they delivered to them ; and con- 
sequently the successors of the apostles, the priests have 
the right to demand unconditional obedience to the faith 
from the laity. 

Father. — But the great apostle Paul writes to the chris- 
tians at Corinth, (1 Cor. x. 15.) and says, "I speak as to 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 



137 



wise men, jW^e ye what / say." Again, 1 Cor. i. 24. "Not 
for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of 
your joy." But that the priesthood is not infallible, and has 
not dominion over the faith of the laity through the Holy 
Ghost, as is maintained, is abundantly shown by the rule, 
which the apostle lays down to the christians of Thessalo- 
nica, (1 Thes. v. 20, 21.) "Despise not prophesyings ; 
Prove all things ; holdfast that which is good." But what 
on the other hand did the Catholic bishops at Trent say, 
"We command, that no one dare to believe or teach other- 
wise than is here established." How modestly the great 
a.postle speaks, and how arrogantly the insignificant bishop 
at Trent speaks directly the contrary. In vain then, did 
the apostle Peter, (1 Pet. v. 2, 3») warn the christian bishops 
against the proud conceit of being lords and judges in the 
church, when he says, "feed the flock of God, — not as being 
lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock." 

Henry. — But experience has proved, that where liberty 
of faith is allowed, very different opinions are entertained 
and published, and thus the people are perplexed. 

Father. — Different views on religious subjects have al- 
ways been entertained in the Romish church as well as in 
ours, both when men were forced in their faith, and when 
they were free to think as they pleased. But, unless these 
different opinions are persecuted, experience proves, that 
they have no effect on the essential substance of religion, 
that is, on the practice of religion* The different learned 
systems of our religious teachers exert no essential influence 
on their official duties, as long as they do not become he- 
retical in the pulpit. It can be said of all, that they aim at 
making their congregations more perfect in christian know- 
ledge and virtue. I have heard many evangelical preachers 
during my travels, but did not find one whose doctrine gave 
me offence ; all edified me. You need only read the great 
multitude of printed evangelical sermons, to convince you, 
that their authors, although of different sentiments, yet all 
labour for the same end, namely, to promote christian life 
12* 



138 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

among the people. There are some indeed, who make the 
pulpit the theatre of learned brawling, but they are few and 
they are finally silenced, because the people withdraw 
themselves, for they desire to have edification and not con- 
troversy. 

Mother. — But even if it were not so, yet every christian 
has the bible for himself, and truly, the will of God with re- 
spect to us and what we must do to be saved, is so simply 
and plainly written in it, that on that point even a layman 
cannot doubt. Remember what I told you before on this 
subject. I think that men entertaining different opinions, 
can still lead christian lives. I only hold those religious 
opinions as injurious which make men indifferent about vir- 
tue, secure in their sins, and inspire a false, delusive conso- 
lation. Such opinions are indeed erroneous and supersti- 
tious. 

Bernhard. — You are perfectly right, dear madam. The 
effect which a doctrine has upon the conduct of a man, is 
a principal mark of its truth or falsehood. This Jesus him- 
self says, when he warns against false teachers, wolves in 
sheep's clothing, and lays down this rule: ^' by their fruits 
ye shall know them." And why shall we not follow the 
church of the early centuries, when, as Irenaeus assures us, 
the simple doctrines of the apostles' creed were maintained, 
and liberty was given to the theologians to think of other con- 
troverted points as they pleased. Christianity was free, and 
grew and flourished. It will not now decline, even though 
this difference of opinions exists. 

Henry. — Even if I should grant this, still it is very evi- 
dent thai this liberty of investigation in the evangelical church 
has also attacked the doctrines of the apostles' creed. Men 
believe that the name Protestant, with which many are so 
much delighted, allows them the privilege of protesting 
against every thing, which they cannot discover by their own 
unassisted reason, and they take pride in gradually rejecting 
all the peculiarities of Christianity, and maintaining nothing 
but natural religion. 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 139 

Bernhard. — I do not deny, that the name protestant has 
been the occasion of some mischief. Some men have abused 
it. But the name is not suited to us. The evangelical 
states of the German Empire received the name of pro- 
testant three hundred years ago, as it is vv'ell known, because 
at the second diet held at Spire in 1529, they protested against 
the revocation of the power which had been granted by the 
former diet to every prince, of managing ecclesiastical mat- 
ters as he thought proper. These protesting princes did 
not thereby intend to secure to every one of their subjects 
the right of doing what he pleased in the affair of religion, 
but merely to prevent the operation of the decrees of the 
diet in their states. The name protestant, never should 
have been substituted for the name evangelical. The prO' 
testant states of the former kingdom were such, as claimed 
the right of constituting and managing church matters in 
their country according to the directions of the divine word, 
and protested against the authority of the pope or emperors, 
to forbid this. Hence that use of the word protestant, which 
was lately attempted to be made, and which you properly 
denounced, is an abuse. Our church expressly recognizes 
an authority to which every christian must subject himself, 
namely, the word of God in the holy Scriptures; how then 
can Protestantism consist in the rejection of all authority, 
excepting reason? But still it is true, that since the time of 
Frederick the Great there arose in our church a spirit of illu- 
mination, which would explain every thing that is peculiar 
in Christianity, but what a delusion! 

Henry. — I am glad that you acknowledge this, and I 
hope, that you will also grant that the Catholic church has 
kept herself free from that, and that a unity of faith has 
also existed in her, of which the evangelical church is to- 
tally destitute. 

Bernhard. — There you are wrong, dear friend. That 
liberalism which ridiculed genuine Christianity and scarcely 
left natural religion untouched, came from France, catholic 
France. Voltaire, who signed his letters Christomoque 



140 HExNRVr AND ANTONIO, 

(mocker of Christ) and boasted that "he alone was able lo 
overthrow the edifice which twelve men (the apostles) had 
erected." Boubanger, Frenet, de la Mettrie and others, 
who called themselves philosophers, were the men, who 
transplanted this mockery of religion to Berlin and Germany. 
But what awakened this infidelity in France, was the stren- 
uous perseverance of the Romish church in all errors and 
abuses. In a country where the massacre of St. Bartholo- 
mews was witnessed, in which after the revocation of the 
edict of Nantes, the twentieth part of three millions of 
reformed were in a short time horribly murdered, and more 
than half a million driven away, no wonder that a combi- 
nation of all the more enlightened men was formed against 
such abominable cruelties of the Romish church. That 
they should attempt to overthrow Christianity with the Ro- 
mish church, was a lamentable, but a natural mistake. Such 
extravagance is opposed to the spirit of the Evangelical 
church, and you must grant, that it was evangelical writers 
who conquered that bold infidelity and finally exhibited it 
in all its nakedness. 

Henry. — But you have a party among the evangelical, 
the so called Rationalists, who elevate reason above the 
scriptures, and who attempt to reduce Christianity to mere 
natural religion. 

Bernhard. — That we lament, but has not the Romish 
church also such a party? Were not the French liberalists, the 
Encyclopedists, also Catholics? Were not they Catholics who 
in the revolution abolished Christianity, but yet were magnan- 
imous enough to decree, that France should at least have a 
God to believe in ? We had very few such free thinkers, and 
not one of them was a teacher of religion. But those were 
also very few who denied divine influence of every kind in 
Christianity, of whom but one was a teacher of religion and 
he was deposed from oflSce. But those who are now called 
Rationalists, with all their errors, are very diflferent from 
these. They at least universally regard Christianity as a di- 
vine institution established for the salvation of men, they 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 141 

consider Jesus Christ as sent by God, and the holy scrip- 
tures as containing the eternal and true word of God. 

Henry. — Butslill it is not good that there should be such 
a diversity of religious sentiment. 

Ber^hard. — But how will you prevent it ? God has so 
created man that he can only believe on good evidence, and 
this evidence has not the same effect on every man. This 
is the case in the catholic just as in the evangelical church, 
and the difference is only this, that the Romish church by 
punishment and the inquisition forces to silence or to hy- 
pocrisy, those who have other sentiments in matters of faith, 
but the evangelical church leaves the decision of such 
things to the force of truth and argument. I should think 
that the latter was most conformable to the will of God, 
who, if he had desired perfect unanimity of religious opin- 
ion, would have found other means to that effect than the 
horrors of the inquisition and the condemnation of heretics, 
in which fallible men punish those presumed to be erroneous, 
by taking away their life or liberty, or property or reputa- 
tion, without being able lo convince them to the contrary. 
You cannot then bring it as a well grounded objoctiofi 
against any church, that parties exist within her pale. This 
objection, the heathen also brought against christians of the 
early ages, of which Clemens of Alexandria (Stromal vii, 
15.) correctly says: 

"They (the heathen) say, that they cannot believe us 
(christians) because of the different opinions and parties 
existing among us. There are also parties and different 
opinions amongst the Jews and Greeks, and yet you do not 
say, that on that account no one should be a philosopher 
or a follower of the Jewish religion. The Lord has said 
before, that tares should be among the wheat. Shall a man 
for this reason never make a contract, because many break 
it? 

Henry. — You do not intend to maintain that diversity 
of religious opinion is useful and desirable? That certainly 



142 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

can never have been the conviction of the church, which 
always must insist upon unity of faith. 

Bernhard. — I do honestly believe, that diversity of views 
on unessential points is salutary, and prevents narrowness of 
opinion and intellectual languor, which are the death of reli- 
gious activity. Just as God did not wish men to become vir- 
tuous without conflict with sin, so he did not desire that we 
should become wise without conflict with error. This conflict 
of opinions it is true, awakens in many a blind party spirit, but 
it is still to most men a beneficial excitement to learn and 
understand the truth. The controversy between the chris- 
tians converted from Judaism and those from heathenism 
in the apostolical church, was of much benefit; it produced 
the apostolical resolution, which made Christianity forever 
independent of Judaism. (Acts xv.) Hence the old church 
fathers did not lament this diversity of opinion as you do. 
'^By comparison with error says Origen (Homil. in numb. 
ix. 1.) truth only shines more brilliantly." Were th^ doc- 
trines of the church not attacked, and not encompassed by 
the opinions of heretics, OHT faitli would not be so puro, and 
not appear so well investigated and proved. But hence the 
attacks of gainsayers are directed against the general doc- 
trine, that our faith may not slumber from inactivity, but be 
filed to smoothness and beauty by frequent collision. For 
this reason, says the apostle (I Cor. xi. 19.) "there must 
be also heresies amongst you, that they which are approved 
may be made manifest among you." In like manner the 
venerable bishop of Carthage, Cyprian, expresses himself, 
(de unit, eccles. p. 197.) If then the church of the first 
three centuries, although persecuted with fire and sword, 
endured different religious opinions among her members 
without injury, we at present, when the church is at peace, 
will have less harm to fear from diversity of sentiment. 

WiLHELMiNA. — I should think, that the beautiful saying, 
"that a virtue, which requires watching, is not worth the 
watching," is also applicable to truth. A truth which re- 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 243 

quires force and punishment to prevent it from extinction, 
is not worth the labour bestowed on it, — it is not a truth. 

Henry. — But the liberty of the use of the scriptures, 
which you allow to the unleained, has certainly led to much 
confusion and fanaticism. 

Bernhard. — It was not the fault of the scriptures. Men 
became fanatics without the use of the bible. Witness the 
Mystics in your own church. But even if diversity of senti- 
ment arises from liberty of opinion and scripture interpreta- 
tion, or should a few christians occasionally be led into ex- 
travagance,. it would, be an unavoidable, but an unimportant 
evil that could be easily endured, and which as abundant ex- 
perience shows, is most safely met by mild persuasion. But 
to employ for this purpose the desperate means which the 
Romish church uses, and to subject all christians uncondi- 
tionally to the caprice of the priesthood, and to pursue with 
excommunication and punishment as heretics, all those 
who doubt their infallibility, is to me sucli intolerable tyran- 
ny over the conscience, that every other evil appears infi- 
nitely smaller. Why should all be deprived of a privilege 
allowed by nature and by no means to be forced from us, 
because a few among thousands abuse it ? Is the whole 
state converted into a mad house because a few citizens are 
insane? The rule by which you abolish all liberty of inves- 
tigation, and prescribe a blind faith in a few hundred priests, 
in order to prevent the circulation of one or another erro- 
neous opinion, appears to me to be acting just about as 
rationally, as if a great state would prohibit navigation to 
its subjects, because now and then a ship is wrecked, and 
grant the privilege only to some inhabitants of the islands, 
(for instance, Spain to the inhabitants of Majorca.) 
ir- Henry. — I see plainly that the expedient of obligating 
all the laity to an unconditional faith in what the priests 
say, is a foolish one. 

Bernhard. — Only pursue the matter to the end! The 
few hundred bishops, who assembled at the councils sinc« 
the fourth century, are to have the right of prescribing to 



144 UENRY AND ANTOiNIO, 

the millions of christians of their own time and of all sub- 
sequent ages an unalterable creed! Who will ensure to us 
their wisdom and impartiality? How few of them are well 
enough known to us, to trust them? Did they not live in 
times of great excitement, in which the judgment is liable 
to be perplexed, and when men are not qualified to take a 
dispassionate view of subjects? Do we not see from many 
of their writings, that they interpreted the Bible very differ- 
ently, that the majority did not at all understand the Hebrew 
language, and many of them not even the Greek ? Had 
they been inspired by the Holy Ghost, as you maintain, they 
would have been unanimous in the establishment of the 
doctrines, — they would have spoken as it were, with one 
tongue by one inspiration, as the prophets of old. But they 
disputed, entertained different opinions, and were forced, 
like other men, to come to conclusions by argument, and 
thus were dependent on their own powers. And some- 
times their meetings were stormy enough. The council of 
Ephesus in 449, supported its opinions by soldiers armed 
with swords, and monks with clubs. The council of Trent, 
so decisive for the interests of the Romish church, was 
frequently in the greatest discord, and the bishops wrang-^ 
led so fiercely that there was danger of a total dissolution, 
80 that at last the archbishop of Palermo, Tagliava, threw 
himself upon his knees in the midst of the assembly and 
with tears and outstretched hands, begged the bishops to 
conduct themselves decently and come to an agreement. 
The number of priests also at these councils who had the 
riorht of voting, was always very small, and it is indeed alto- 
gether unfair, that a few hundred priests, amongst whom 
there have always been many stupid and few learned heads, 
should prescribe a system of faith to the 125, 000, 000 of 
Catholics who now may be living in the world, and among 
whom there are many learned, wise and good men. When 
the council of Trent was opened, there were only twenty- 
five priests present entitled to vote, their number gradually 
increased it is true, but even at the end of the council there 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 145 

were btit two hundred and twenty-five voters, of whom the 
Italian clergy alone composed more than the half. The most 
of the resolutions of this council however, were passed by 
less than one hundred votes. And are these few persons 
to represent the whole christian world, and be able to pre- 
scribe a faith for ever valid to all christians to the end of time, 
and is every one who dares to reject any article, to suffer 
as a heretic in reputation, liberty or life? Here truly, if any 
where, the warning of the apostle is applicable, (1. Cor. vii. 
23.) "Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants 
of men." And I would ask, if God had found it good 
to make the priesthood infallible by his spirit, why did he of- 
ten permit a great part of the priesthood to fall into error 
and heresy, which again had to be condemned at other ex- 
pensive councils and not without violence, by another part 
of the priesthood? 

Henry. — I know not what to reply to that. But what 
expedient would you propose, for maintaining the necessa- 
ry unity of faith ? 

Bernhard. — None at all ; — Unity of faith in your sense 
is not necessary, because it is not possible. Hence, Jesus 
also (Matt. xiii. 24 — 30.) was willing that the wheat and 
the tares should be left together until the harvest. It is not 
a part of the plan of God to deprive the human mind of all 
self dependence by means of tiie bare letter of creeds, and 
to produce such a unity as a clock-maker wishes, when he 
sets several clocks to the same hour. In every age divine 
truth has been differently viewed by different men, and 
yet it has not been destroyed. If it were not so, two 
branches of history would not now exist, namely, that 
of biblical doctrines, and that of christian creeds and the 
changes and difference of doctrines. Then, if a complete 
identity of all religious opinions is not possible, and can be 
attained by no expedient ; if the Romish priests are not 
qualified for the office of infallible judges of faith, and could 
• never produce or maintain the unity of faith, then it is folly, 
to subject the laity to the declarations of the priesthood^ 
13 



146 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

and thereby fetter the conscience and enslave the mind, 
which not only fails of its design completely, but is also 
highly injurious. 

Henry. — But still it appears to me, as though there were 
a certain unity and perpetuity of faith produced in the Ro- 
mish church by the judicial authority of the priesthood. 

Father. — You say right : "a certain;" for I have before 
showed you the true character of this boasted unity of faith. 
It is indeed only a certain unity, for it was produced, not 
by the force of sound argument, but by the force of exter- 
nal power, that is, by the fiercest persecutions of those, 
who would not believe without good grounds, for which 
reason it is not a true, internal unity, but specious, exter- 
nal, and hence exceedingly unworthy of confidence. 

Bernhard. — Indeed, your professed unity and perpetui- 
ty of faith is partly, a mere outward show, partly a very great 
evil. 

Henry. — I should like to hear the proof of that ! If you 
produce it, I will recall every thing I said this evening 
against your church. 

Bernhard. — I can and will produce it. Tell me, do you 
mean this by unity of faith, that the creeds and confessions 
of the church remain the same and agree with each other ; 
or this, that all Catholic christians entertain precisely the 
same opinions founded on the creeds and no others ? — cer- 
tainly the latter, for we have the former unity of confes- 
sions, and to a much greater extent than the Romish church, 
in which popes and councils have so often publicly contra- 
dicted, and condemned each other. 

Henry. — I also understand it in the latter sense ; for on 
that account a creed is established, that all may have the 
same view of christian doctrine, and hence in our church 
the creeds are patterns of faith for each individual, whereas 
the Evangelical church regards yours not as patterns, but 
only as evidences of that, which the church acknowledges 
as the meaning of the holy Scriptures. 



OR THE PROSELYTES. ^^^ 

Bernhard. — Perfectly right ! but do you think it possi- 
ble that all men with the best intentions will understand a 
formula of doctrine in the same way, or will they not ra- 
ther interpret it very differently ? 

Henry. — (Reluctantly) Certainly experience teaches that 
men are not likely to take the same view of a subject. 

Bernhard. — Say rather, it is impossible. All for in- 
stance, acknowledge the formula ; we believe in one God, 
But how different are the conceptions of christians con- 
cerning God ? The unlettered man conceives him a person 
in human form ; the enthusiast, a light, which is stationed 
atone place as the focus of all life; another, a spirit per- 
vading the universe ; another, an abstract idea, and at the 
same time the cause of all the laws of nature ; again another, 
an undefinable something, exalted above human concep- 
tion, incomprehensible to the understanding, and only to be 
apprehended by faith and feeling. It is just the same with 
respect to men's conceptions of the trinity, angels, original 
sin, sacraments, church, resurrection, purgatory, heaven, 
hell, and other things. The word is an empty sound, which 
can give us no idea if we had it not before. Language is 
only the sign of an idea; it only awakens the ideas in the 
mind, which we had before. Hence we must ourselves form 
our ideas of supernatural things from the instructions of 
others, and our own reflection. This process every one 
must go through for himself, and it is this which produces 
an unavoidable difference of conception about the invisible 
subjects of religious faith, because men are infinitely differ- 
ent in natural talent, habits of thought, industry and appre- 
hension, and hence never view a subject exactly in the same 
light. And hence that unity of faith so loudly boasted of 
in your church, is nothing more than that which we have, 
namely, a unity of language in the public confessions, 

Henry. — But cannot these confessions be expressed 
with so much precision, that it is not possible to think dif- 
ferently about them, but that all who understood the lan- 
guage must entertain the same idea ? I should think, that the 



148 HENRY AXD ANTOXIO, 

Athanasian creed for example, speaks so precisely, that it 
must necessarily create in all the &ame ideas of the doctrine 
of the Trinity. 

Bernhard. — It is certain that this is the most precise 
and least equivocal creed we have, and yet theologians 
have disputed, whether the Trinity is an attribute of God, 
or something else ; all the illustrations which have been 
attempted, produced a different result, and either de- 
stroyed the unity of the divine being or the distinction of 
the persons. Your popes themselves saw, that a unity of 
faith was not secured by the decrees of the council of Trent, 
and hence they publicly proclaimed that no one should pre- 
sume to interpret the decrees and language of the council 
of Trent; but that this is the exclusive privilege of the 
popes. They really established in Rome a particular com- 
mission of priests for this object. Thus in truth they make 
to the world this remarkable acknowledgment, that the 
meaning of the public confessions is variously apprehended, 
and that a general council is not competent to produce 
unity of faith among christians. 

Henry. ^ — I must confess, that this committee of explana-^ 
tion to which the decrees of the council of Trent are re- 
ferred, is in open contradiction to what is maintained, name- 
ly, that the creeds of councils produced unity of faith. 

Bernhard. — To pursue the matter to its' legitimate re- 
sults, we might say, that the explanations of this committee 
needed explanation ; for that purpose another must be ap- 
pointed, and for the arbitrement of this one, again another,, 
and so on. Thus the whole priesthood would be nothing 
but a series of committees, which explained each other's- 
explanations, and on which no final decision could be made, 
because the last as well as the first would be understood by 
the faithful in different ways. 

Henry. — But what then doesthe Evangelical church do? 
Where does she look for the final decision ? 

Bernhard. — The first and final decision we seek in the 
holy scriptures. 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 149 

Henry. — And on what authority do you believe that the 
instructions of the scriptures ar« infallible ? 

Bernhard. — Certainly not on the authority of one or 
several men, but on the authority of argument, which every 
one has liberty to advance, because by argument alone a 
genuine and lasting conviction is made, and conviction up- 
on good grounds only is worthy the dignity of religion and 
rational man. Paul also tells us prove all things; holdfast 
to that which is good. 

Henry. — But this occasions among you a great variety 
of opinions. 

Bernhard. — That is true, and we do not try to pre- 
•vent it, because as I have showed, God has so created men, 
that every one is a living responsible being in himself, and 
must arrive at the truth by the exercise of his own powers. 
This variety of views among individuals does no harm to 
the grand object, namely, christian life, and affords us the 
opportunity at least, of acquitting ourselves of the duty of 
sincerity. But the assumed infallibility of your priesthood 
in councils, renders it impossible for the Romish church to 
correct an error once committed, or an abuse once estab- 
lished. Your council of Trent about 200 years ago adopt- 
ed purgatory, masses for souls, withholding the cup, tran- 
substantiation, celibacy of the clergy, the damnation of all 
who are not papists, indulgences, satisfaction by penance, 
and other things as eternal articles of faith, and it is in vain, 
that now so many sensible Catholics desire an alteration. 
In a church which claims to be infallible, error is eternal, 
and proscription and punishment support this error as irre- 
versible truth. By this means the Romish church comes 
into inextricable conflict with the progress of the sciences 
and social cultivation. She cannot, like the Evangelical 
church, keep pace with these things, but she must sink in 
the stream of time, or she must try powerfully to check the 
developement of the human mind, or to bring back again 
the times of the middle ages, in which she sprung up, and then 
only could flourish. And to accomplish that is the avow- 
13* 



150 nE?fRY AND ANTONIO, 

ed object of the Romish priesthood at the present day, but 
which can be as little effected, as if an attempt were made 
to bring a full grown man back again to childhood. Our 
public confessions on the other hand, are not intended as 
patterns of faith or prescriptions, but are only evidences of 
the views which men entertained of the doctrines of the 
scriptures at the reformation. We then can correct an 
error if it is discovered, and avail ourselves of all the im- 
provements in the science of interpretation, but in essen- 
tial points, this has not been necessary. Hence the gospel 
of Jesus will endure and be extended, but that of Rome and 
Trent will decay and perish. 

Henry.- — I am myself almost persuaded, that we boast^ 
too much of perpetuity and unity of faith in our church; — 
that difference of religious views is unavoidable, and that 
the defence and explanation of the word of God by argu- 
ment is still the best. 

WiLHELMiNA. — If it wcie HOt presumptuous in me to take 
part in this learned controversy, I would also have a word 
to say to enliven your serious faces a little. 

Father. — Truth may lie concealed in a jest; let us hear ! 

WiLHELMiNA. — The scripturos say to the woman, "thy 
desire shall be (subject) to thy husband, and he shall rule 
over thee." This is very plain, but ynt in all ages it has 
been differently understood. The inhabitant of the east 
was the lord of his wife in the strictest sense of the word, 
and she his servant. Among the Greeks the wife was also 
subjected to servitude, although in a milder form. Bern- 
hard explained this matter to me very beautifully. You 
know how that expression is understood now. Many min- 
isters when they come to the words ''he shall rule over 
thee" in the form of matrimony, add "in allreasonable cases." 
But what is gained thereby ? Every wife and every husband 
have their peculiar views of these "reasonable cases," and 
they would hardly agree in sentiment, if a whole hook were 
written on that subject. Yea, if an explanation were given 
by a whole assembly of infallible popes, it would be no bet* 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 



151 



ter, for every wife will never be any thing else than she can 
be, either mistress or servant. It depends altogether upon 
the relation she sustains to the man whom she has received 
as her husband, with respect to talents, accomplishments, 
respectability, character, influence and the like. It appears 
to me to have been thus already in ancient times, for I 
think that Sarah and her daughter-in-law Rebecca inter- 
preted the old saying,, "he shall rule over thee," in their own 
way, although in their times the strictest interpretation was 
generally prevalent. But what injury is to result from a 
different interpretation of that passage among wives, I 
really cannot see. Until now at least, the world and do- 
mestic life have always proceeded along tolerably well. 

Henry. — Yes, you ladies ! you interpret every thing as 
you please and in your own favor. But it would become 
you very well, if you all said, as the virtuous Mary did, 
"behold the handmaiden of the Lord ! " 

WiLHELMiNA. — Yes, but Mary when she said this, had 
not a selfish, growling bear of a husband before her, but — 
an angel. We do not read that Mary ever said any thing 
like that to Joseph, her husband. If indeed the men. were 
all angels — 

Bernhard. — (Inrerrupting her,) and the women all an- 
gels, then they would be on an equality. But jesting apart ! 
You see, dear Henry, that the views of men about the for- 
mulas of faith will always be various, and that there could 
not be popes and councils enough to decide every thing, 
and to drive every thing into the heads of men in the same 
way. But still every church may continue to have her 
written creeds. Nothing is however, gained but a unity of 
language in the public formulas, and not a similarity of 
views in the understandings of men. Variety of religious 
opinion is natural, and cannot be avoided. Hence it 
is wrong, to condemn each other as heretics on this 
account, and to employ authority and violence to force 
men to entertain the same views on this subject. It is this 



152 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

violence which renders religious opinions dangerous, for it 
perpetuates error, begets enthusiasm and haired, and retards 
the natural developement of the human mind. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE PRIESTHOOD AND CONSECRATION. 

One principal argument in favor of the Romish church, 
which had deeply rooted itself in the unfurnished mind of 
Henry, was the doctrine concerning the priesthood, which 
he introduced for discussion the next evening. He had 
been convinced, that the Catholic priests were the only 
persons divinely authorized to give religious instruction and 
administer the sacraments, and that they were fully empow- 
ered to forgive sins. The mother thought that this was a sub- 
ject which deserved no investigation, inasmuch as little de- 
pended on it; but the father maintained the contrary, inas- 
much as the doctrine concerning the priesthood was a prin- 
cipal ground of the Catholic church, presumptuous in its char- 
acter and encroaching exceedingly on the rights of others, 
and Bernhard observed that the proselyters of ancient 
and modern times had attempted to impress very deep- 
ly on the minds of the people, the objection that the 
Evangelical clergy had no right to the office they sustained. 
To prevent unnecessary dispute, they at the commencement 
granted to Henry, that Jesus and the apostles designed that 
there should be teachers and officers in the church, inas- 
much as the apostles appointed presbyters and deacons in 
the congregations, or permitted them to be appointed by 
the churches. The father and Bernhard argued, that on this 
was founded the legitimacy of the clerical office establish- 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 153 

etl in the Evangelical church, and then asked Henry why 
he controverted this legitimacy? 

Hexry. — The Romish church teaches, that Jesus and the 
apostles not only appointed teachers and officers in the 
churches, as you think, but that they established a distinct 
priestly order, to which belongs exclusively, and without the 
participation of the laity, the government of the church, 
the right to teach, to administer the sacraments, to forgive 
sins, and to decide controversies. Hence, without the 
priest, the layman can do nothing. The priest must bap- 
tize him, and thus he first becomes a christian. The priest 
must confirm him, must absolve him at confession, oflfer the 
sacrifice of mass for him, help him out of purgatory, and by 
all those means unlock for him the gates of Paradise, which 
the priest alone can do. Finally, it is the priestly order, 
which on account of its infallibility, has the exclusive 
right of determining what the layman must believe as true, 
and reject as false, and what is real sanctification, and the 
proper means to promote it. 

Father. — Then the Catholic priests are not guardians of 
the souls of the laity, but lords of their souls ; their unlimit- 
ed monarchs, because in matters of religion and salvation 
they have not only executive authority over the laity, but 
legislative. The laity are — pardon the comparison ! — the 
negroes, and the priests, the planters. We have no such 
priests in the Evangelical church. 

Henry.— You cannot have tkem ; for the rights of the 
priesthood are derived from the apostles, and are only com- 
municated by priestly consecration. Hence they can be 
possessed onJy by that priesthood, which descends from the 
apostles in an uninterrupted chain of consecrations, and 
thus perpetuates and communicates these priestly gifts. The 
Catholic clergy can show historically the series of their 
bishops up to the apostles, consequently, derive their priest- 
hood as genuine, from its founder, Christ; but the Evan- 
gelical clergy cannot do this ; they can only derive their or- 
dination and authority from the founders of the reformation. 



154 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

Luther and Zwingli, who had it not in their power to found 
a priesthood. 

Father. — Have you forgotten, my son, that Luther and 
Zwingli were consecrated priests of the Romish church, 
and also trace their consecration to the apostles, and could 
impart it to the clergy of the Evangelical church ? Have 
you forgotten, that at the time of the reformation, very ma- 
ny Romish clergymen in Saxony, in the imperial towns, in 
all Germany and Switzerland, and also in Denmark and 
Sweden became Evangelical clergymen, and hence brought 
over with them the consecration of the Catholic church into 
ours ? 

Henry. — Indeed, dear father, I did not think of that. — 
But I should think that Luther and the other Catholic cler- 
gymen had lost the consecration, inasmuch as they declar- 
ed themselves independent of the Catholic church, and of 
the high priest at Rome. 

Father. — (Smiling,) That is heresy, my son. You know 
certainly that your church and the council of Trent have es- 
tablished the position, that consecration imparts a sacerdo- 
tal character that cannot be lost, — which is not destroyed by 
deposition and expulsion from the church, and which of 
course, could not be lost by all the Romish clergymen, who 
became Evangelical. Once a priest, always a priest. 

Henry. — You are right, father. We must grant that Lu- 
ther, Zwingli and others always remained legally consecra- 
ted priests. But I believe, they could not consecrate 
others, because they separated from the Pope and Catholic 
priesthood, and fell into heresy. 

Father. — Their heresy consisted in this, that they as- 
cribed to the holy scriptures a higher authority than to the 
decree of popes and the priesthood; that they elevated the 
authority of Jesus and the apostles, the founder of the 
priesthood, above the priesthood itself, the master above 
the disciples. For this reason, it is impossible to rob them 
of the legitimacy of their consecration before God and 
Christ. But if they'whom you call heretics, had lost the 



OR THE PROSELYTES, I55 

authority of perpetuating sacerdotal consecration, then you 
would render doubtful the rights of the Romish clergy 
themselves. For from the first to the tenth century, it was 
the clergy among whom very frequently, and for a long 
time the so called heresy reigned. In the middle of the 
fourth century the half of the christian clergy were Arians. 

Bernhard. — I just remember, that the bishops Dyonysius 
of Mailand, and Eusebius of Vercelli were Arians, and that 
the Romish deputies to the council of Aries (in 354,) them- 
selves subscribed the condemnation of Athanasius, whose 
doctrine subsequently prevailed over that of Arius. 

Father. — If then these avowed heretical bishops con- 
tinued to consecrate without afterwards re-ordaining those 
consecrated by them, and if consecration was further ex- 
tended by these, then a great proportion of the present Ro- 
mish priests received their consecration from Arians and 
other heretics, and consequently are not lawfully conse- 
crated. 

Henry. — I feel that my ground is untenable. But just 
now the principal point occurs to me. The consecration 
of priests can only be performed by a bishop, consequent- 
ly, Luther, Zwingli and other Catholic clergymea, who 
were not bishops, could not transplant it into the Evangeli- 
cal church. 

Father. — You will only get into greater difficulties by 
that, my son. How do you know, that a bishop only can 
consecrate ? 

Henry. — It seems to have been the custom from the be- 
ginning. 

Father. — But custom does not create a necessity. Be- 
sides it was not so at the beginning, but a custom intro- 
duced at a later day. The apostle Matthias, (Acts i. 15 — 
26,) was not elected in the place of Judas the traitor by 
Peter and the apostles, but by the congregation at Jerusa- 
lem, which also (vr. 24,) prayed over him. Paul and Bar- 
nabas were consecrated apostles to the heathen, not by an 
apostle, neither by a bishop, but according to Acts xiii. 1—- 



156 HENRY Ax\D ANTONIO, 

3, by three pious private persons at Antioch. If then only 
a bishop could legally consecrate, Paul, Matthias and Bar- 
nabas were not lawfully consecrated, consequently the el- 
ders ordained (Acts xiv. 23,) by Paul and Barnabas, and 
all those consecrated by these again, which certainly con- 
stitute a great portion of the Romish clergy, have not re- 
ceived lawful consecration. Besides there is no reason why 
a bishop only should consecrate, since by consecration, 
agreeably to your opinion, every one receives the same su- 
pernatural gifts, consequently can also communicate them, 
if they are at all communicable. Then you must grant, 
that our clergy are validly consecrated, or acknowledge, 
that the Romish priests are destitute of it also. But I at- 
tach no importance to it, because the whole doctrine of the 
power of consecration and the transmission of a superna- 
tural gift, which renders the priestly order infallible and 
makes them the spiritual tutors of the laity, is altogether 
groundless. For by what means do you believe these su- 
pernatural gifts are transmitted ? 

Henry. — By the laying on of hands at ordination, by 
which the Holy Ghost is communicated to the priests, and 
they receive the authority of teaching infallibly, effectual- 
ly administering the sacraments and offering to God the 
sacrifice of the mass. 

Father. — And what authorizes you to ascribe such ope- 
ration to the laying on of hands ? 

Henry. — The scriptures themselves impute it* 

Mother. — In that you are mistaken, my sod. The lay- 
ing on of hands was not first introduced in the time of 
Christ, but it was a very ancient Jewish custom, and was 
a sign of the conferring of something invisible. That which 
was conferred may have as well been something good as 
bad, something spiritual or temporal. Hands were laid on 
the animal that was sacrificed, as a sign that the guilt of sin 
was laid upon it, and that it must expiate this guilt; (Lev. 
i. 4, iii. 2, iv. 15, xvi. 21,) on blasphemers, to show that the 
guilt was theirs, and that they deserved the punishment, 



OR THE PROSELYTES. Jr^-y 

(Lev. xxiv. 14,) on Levites, as a sign that the care of the 
temple and the holy things were committed to them, (Nam. 
viii. 10,) upon Joshua, to show that the dignity of a leader 
of the nation was conferred on him. (Num. xxvii. ]8 — 23, 
Deut. xxxiv. 9.) In the New Testament you find that Je- 
sus laid his hands on children when he blessed them, (Matt. 
xix. 13 — 15,) that the same was done to the sick to heal 
them, (Mark v. 23, vi. 5, vii. 32, viii. 23, xvi. 18. Acts ix. 
12, xxviii. 8,) and that hands were laid on newly converted 
christians to bless them and impart the gifts of the spirit. 
(Acts xix. 6.) When then it was practised at the admission 
or installation of elders and deacons (Acts vi. 6, 1 Tim. iv. 
14, 2 Tim. i. 6,) it was nothing peculiar, but something 
common, and they received thereby no extraordinary gifts, 
but the gifts of the spirit, which all other christians also re- 
ceived by the laying on of hands, and these gifts were so 
little connected with this custom, that even the yet unbap- 
tized heathen received them after the mere hearing of the 
sermon of the apostle Peter without the laying on of hands. 
Acts X. 44—46. 

Henry. — I never before knew that the laying on of hands 
was so common, and that it equally exerts an influence on 
the laity. From this it certainly follows, that this custom 
is not essential in the consecration of priests, and cannot 
be the means of communicating gifts peculiar to the priest- 
ly order. 

Father. — You will be yet more deeply convinced of this, 
if you remember, that the apostle Matthias, according to 
Acts i. 24 — 26, was consecrated without the laying on of 
hands by mere prayer, and Jesus himself when he commis- 
sioned his apostles observed another custom. He said to 
them, (John xx. 21) "As my father has sent me, even so 
send 1 you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, 
and saith unto them, receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whosesoev- 
er sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whose- 
soever sins ye retain, they are retained.'' 
14 



15S IiENRYAND ANTONIO, 

By laying on of hands, then, Jesus did not consecrate the 
apostles. Consequently it cannot be essential or necessa- 
ry to consecration, or the apostles were not properly con- 
secrated, and of course the whole Romish clergy. Priest- 
ly consecration can then communicate nothing, but exter- 
nal authority, to perform ecclesiastical services. But the 
internal consecration which qualifies for this office, cannot 
be inherited like apiece of land or a lordly title, and it can- 
not be received by the laying on of the hands of men ; for 
it consists in the religious spirit and gifts necessary for the 
performance of the official duties. 

Henry. — According to that, the priesthood would have 
no supernatural gift, which it appropriates to itself as a pe- 
culiar possession, in which the laity have no part? 

Father. — What foolish questions you can ask ! If you 
want another proof, only look at the bishops, the elders, 
and the deacons, from the first to the sixteenth century. 
They were seldom unanimous in religious opinions; the 
priestly order was the most fruitful source of opinions, which 
another portion of this order declared as heresies. The 
Phocians, Sabellians, Nestorians, Arians, Novatians, Adop- 
tians, Eutychians, and many others whom you designate as 
heretics, had priests as their founders, and priests as their de- 
fenders. The Franciscans, Dominicans, and Jesuits, all 
consecrated priests, carried on among themselves the most 
scandalous and prolix theological controversies, which in 
part are not yet discontinued. And these priests, of whom 
one part was always contending against the other, who con- 
demned each other as heretics, are to be infallible, full of 
the Holy Ghost and of wisdom, and to have the right of 
determining in an infallible manner, what all christians are 
to believe or not to believe ? And these priests who them- 
selves first introduced the opinion of their presumed pri- 
vileges, and made it an article of faith, we are to believe 
upon their bare assertion, when they themselves so grossly 
contradict the opinion by their actions! 



OR THE PROSELYTES. ^59 

Henry. — I see very well that I cannot dispute the legiti- 
macy of the consecration of the evangelical clergy on the 
grounds stated. 

Bernhard. — That does not yet settle the matter, dear 
Henry. We have granted your conception of the priest- 
hood, and only showed, that the evangelical clergymen had 
all the right of appropriating to themselves, what the Ro- 
mish church ascribes to the priesthood. But we could 
have cut the matter short, and said, that Jesus and the 
apostles did not design to establish a priesthood in the chris- 
tian church. 

Henry. — You can scarcely be serious. 

Bernhard. — Perfectly serious. Teachers of the gospel, 
and overseers of the congregations they appointed, but no 
priests. For what is a priest? 

Henry. — The Romish catechism says: *'the office of a 
priest is, to offer sacrifice to God and to administer the sacra- 
merits.'^ The correctness of this definition is derived from 
the Old Testament. 

Bernhard. — From the old truly, but not from the new. 
We have already showed you, that the New Testament de- 
clares all sacrifices as abolished by the death of Christ. — 
There is then no sacrifice to be repeated, and consequent- 
ly in the New Testament, no priest who has a sacrifice to 
bring. Besides, the apostles never regarded themselves as 
priests. 

Henry. — That I grant, but the administration of the sa- 
craments is surely exclusively committed to them. 

Bernhard. — No, no, only read the 11th and 12th chap- 
ters of the first epistle to the Corinthians ! There you will 
see that the gifts of the spirit were common to all christians, 
that every one, the women alone excepted, could rise and 
teach in the congregation and explain the scriptures. 
Teaching then was confined to no order, but it was free for 
all, who felt themselves moved to it. And there is not the 
least proof, that baptizing and administering the Lord's 
supper was exclusively committed to the apostles, bishops, 
or elders. Paul s^ys, (1 Cor, j. 14 — 16.) that in the large 



1(50 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

congregation at Corinth, wliicli he established, he had bap- 
tized only two persons and oi\e family, and adds, what is 
very decisive, "For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to 
preach the gospel." 

Henry. — I cannot suiely dispute the assertions of the 
apostle Paul. But the apostles expressly received the pow- 
er to forgive and retain sins, and through them the bish- 
ops received it? 

Father. — Remember what we said on that subject before, 
which you could not refute. 

Henry. — The matter was thus represented to me, dear 
father; the principal design of Christ is, to be the mediator 
between God and men. After his ascension to God, inter- 
cession for his people is alone ascribed to him. Whence 
then shall mediation between (God and men come after this 
time ? How are we placed in a situation to fulfil the condi- 
tions, under which the mediation is to be of benefit to us ? 
If it was not the will of Christ to continue his mediation 
personally to the end of the world, and the scriptures speak 
only of one part of his personal mediatorial office, which 
he continues after his ascension to heaven, it is easy to be- 
lieve, that he committed to others the other part of his 
mediatorial office, that which is visible to men on earth. 
And this mediatorial office in all its parts continued by 
Christ on earth, although not personally, is the Catholic 
priesthood. It is Christ acting and living on earth until the 
end, in substitutes furnished with his au-thority and the ne- 
cessary grace. 

Father. — All that is pure nonsence, it has no support 
from the scriptures,. yea, it is contradictory to the scriptures. 
Show me but one passage in which the Saviour says, that 
the apostles should be his substitutes after his death, and 
carry on his mediatorial office in his stead. On his depar- 
ture from the earth the Lord said to his apostles, (Acts. i. 8.) 
"Ye shall be witnesses unto me," but not, ye shall be medi- 
ators in my stead, my substitutes in the mediatorial office. 
And according to Matthew xxviir. 16, 20, the Saviour just 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 16| 

before his ascension said, "All power is given unto me in 
heaven and on earth. I am with you always, even unto the 
end of the world.'' How foolish then for you to syeak, as 
thouorh Christ could or would not any longer exercise power 
on earth, and for this reason appointed priests in his stead? 
The apostle Paul contradicts that notion most decisively, 
when in Heb. ch. vii. he ascribes to Christ an eternal priest- 
hood, that rs forever in exercise, continually in operation, 
and hence draws the conclusion, that there is no more ne- 
cessity for a priesthood to perform its functions through men 
as his substitutes. In ch. ix. 10, &c. he says, that the hu- 
man priesthood was only necessary until the appearance of 
Christ, ''the time of the reformation" he offered himself owcc 
for all, ''having obtained eternal redemption for us," (v. 12.) 
and that now there is no more occasion for continual sa- 
crifice, (v. 25, 28.) So my son, we need no further sacrifice 
and no priest; and Christ is not, as they wished to persuade 
you, separated from his church. Your^ idea of ''the priest- 
hood's substitution in the place of Christ on earth" is an 
idle whim, directly in opposition to the scriptures. 

Henry. — Then there would be no priesthoood in the 
christian church? 

Bernhard. — It was not the design of Christ that there 
should be a priesthood in the sense of the Romish church. 
The bishops and elders of the apostolical church did not con- 
stitute a distinct and privileged order, but they were partly 
teachers, partly overseers of the congregations and stewards 
of the public affairs of the church. Hence every one could 
be a bishop, if he was qualified for transacting this business. 
The deacons of the apostolic church were nothing more 
than stewards of the public alms, and took care of the poor 
(Acts. vi. 1, &,c.) and not even clergymen in the sense of 
our church. Hence there were also deaconesses, (1 Tim, 
iv. 9, &c.) which aflfords certain proof that there was no- 
thing sacerdotal in their office. The bishops, elders and 
deacons first began gradually to be regarded as a distinct 
exclusive order in the third and fourth centuries. All that 
14* 



162 HENRY AND /TNTONm; 

was peculiar to the Mosaic priesthood was attributed" to 
them, and hence the idea of the priesthood first originated. 
According to the representation of the apostle all christians 
are priests, and Peter says (1 Ep. ii. 5, 9.) '*Ye also as lively 
stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to 
offer up spiritual sacrifices. Ye are a chosen generation, 
a royal priesthood, an holy nation." 

But by 'spiritual sacrifices' the mass is not understood, but 
according to Rom. xiii. 1, 2, Heb. xii. 14, 16, the laying off 
of sin, and the putting on of christian virtue. But when 
Peter says, all christians are priests, he is rather to be be-^ 
lieved, than when the pretended successor of Peter asserts 
the contrary.* Hence the Evangelical ministry is fully 
authorized to perform its functions by the appointment of the 
church, and very properly leaves the forgiveness of sins and 
the opening of Paradise, to him whom it becomes, the 
most high in heaven, and does not presume to repeat 
the sacrifice of Christ to God, since Christ offered him- 
self once for all. 

Henry. — I can say nothing against that; but yet there 
is something consoling in the belief, that the clergy pro- 
vide for the forgiveness of our sins, for our salvation and 
the genuineness of our faith ! 

Father. — Yes, just as the eulogists of slavery say : it is 
certainly very consoling to slaves that they need not be 
solicitous about shelter, food and clothing, inasmuch as 
the master must provide all these. But they do not thereby 
reflect, that the slave has nothing of his own, that he must 
yield unconditional obedience, must bear with all the whims 
of his master, and endure all the stripes of his overseer 
without a murmur. And these stripes the Romish priests 
have laid right lustily over the shoulders of the laity. 
But all that might be endured, if the clergy were able to 
fulfil what they promise, and on which account they de- 
mand such unlimited power over the souls of the laity. 

•See Appendix, No. XI. 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 



163 



The roaster gives his slaves real shelter, food and clothing, 
because he is their master ; but the priests only give direc- 
tions towards Paradise, which is not their own, but God's, 
they promise forgiveness of sins, which does not depend 
on them but on the mercy of God, that is, their blessings 
are all prospective. They themselves possess them not, 
and only expect them from the grace of the great mas- 
ter above. And how can you believe, that these men are 
under the influence of the Holy Ghost, and filled with wis- 
dom and holiness, when you read the complaints of all ages 
against the pride, cruelty, licentiousness and crimes of popes 
and priests ? I do not deny that there have been very many 
pious, venerable, and excellent bishops, priests and popes ; 
but it is equally undeniable, that there have been many 
others, who were wicked, licentious,, ignorant, lewd and 
despicable. There is then among them the same mixture 
of wisdom and folly, virtue and vice, which is observed 
among the laity ; consequently the priests can possess no 
spiritual gifts above the laity, bu.t are eq^ually subject to error 
and to sin. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE ROMISa AND^EVANGELICAL VV^ORHSIP— THE MASS. 

Tlie next morning after this conversation, Henry again 
read over the paper which he had prepared in Frankfurt, for 
the purpose of seeing what yet remained that he could 
advance in justification of his conversion to the Romish 
church. He found only two things, first, that the Catholic 
worship was preferable to the Evangelical, and secondly, 
that the Catholic church receives especial dignity from the 
saints and martyrs, which belong to her. Difficulties oe- 



](54 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

curred to him on both these points, but still he determined 
to bring them forward, to hear the opinions of his friends, 
that there might be a perfect understanding between them 
on all the points involved in the controversy. Hence on 
the next evening he introduced the sul)ject of the Catholic 
worship, to which he ascribed two principal advantages 
over the Evangelical, first, that it is much richer in festivals, 
and hence awakens and promotes more ardent devotion ; 
and secondly, that it addresses the senses more powerfully, 
and by its splendor and ceremonies presents a more tangible 
and effective view of invisible things, and brings them 
nearer to our feelings. But he soon had occasion to wish, 
that he had been silent about the multitude of festivals in 
the Catholic church, for his friends framed a strong argu- 
ment against the Romish church from that very circum- 
stance. The festivals have been multiplied to such an ex- 
tent, they said, that thoy seriously inierfered with the business 
of the citizens and retarded public industry, so that the 
Catholic princes themselves were obliged to remedy this 
abuse, and to prevent the introduction of new church festi^ 
vals, except by their permission. The friends of Henry 
also objected on the ground, that many festivals were 
founded on things which must be regarded as indubitable 
historical or religious errors, for instance, the festival of the 
immaculate conception of the virgin Mary, the commemo- 
ration of the chair of St. Peter, the Corpus Christi, of the 
chains of St. Peter, the ascension of Mary, of All Saints, 
(those which are in purgatory,) the numerous festivals of 
saints and martyrs, many of which are founded on very 
uncertain legends. They opposed him on the ground, that 
in the Old Testament the law was in full force; "six days 
shalt thou labor and do all thy work," and that although now 
the celebration of the seventh day was abrogated, and the 
first day of the week was selected as the Lord's day, yet 
that the prescription of six working days was still in 
full force, and that hence it was opposing the design 
of God, when men multiply holydays at such a rate, that 



OR THE PROSELYTES. J(55 

finally they have become almost as numerous as the working 
days. 

They consumed more time in discussing the second point, 
which was, the superior advantages of the Catholic worship 
on account of the deep impression it made on the senses 
of men. Henry laid much stress on the salutary influence 
which the church solemnities in Rome exerted on so many 
strangers, and which Schiller so eloquently pourtrays in th€ 
character of Mortimer in his tragedy of "Mary Stuart." They 
objected to this, that Rome afforded no criterion of the 
effect of the Catholic worship generally. "In a city said 
the father, where the high priest is at the same time a 
temporal king, and his person, when he publicly appears as 
a priest, is at the same time surrounded with the tempo- 
ral majesty of the throne, where the subordinate priests are 
at the same time officers of the kingdom, and the church 
solemnities are performed in all the gorgeous magnificence 
which the unlimited will and wealth of a monarch can be- 
stow upon them — in such a city, the worship will naturally 
be distinguished by a brilliance which can be found no 
where else. But the city of Rome with her sumptuous 
St. Peter's church is not the Catholic world, and the king- 
priest, the pope, and the sacerdotal court surrounding him 
are not the Catholic church. We must consider the cere- 
monies in themselves, and not as they are performed at 
Rome." 

"But altogether irrespective of Rome, replied Henry, 
yet the customs and service of the Catholic church are of 
that nature, that they make a much deeper impression than 
the service of the evangelical church. The latter employ 
only the understanding, but do not awaken religious sensi- 
bility; hence they are only suited to the inhabitants of the 
cold north, who have no sensibility or taste, and not to the 
sprightly French, Italians, Spanish, and the inhabitants of 
the south generally. They require something entertaining^ 
something addressed to the senses, which will excite their 
imagination and feeling." 



1(5(5 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

Father." — I liave ofien heard similar speeches, especially 
from enemies of the Evangelical church in France, and was 
always not a little astonished, for one single example com- 
pletely prostrates this baseless idea, and that is derived from 
the Mohamedan system. No religion in the world has such 
meagre ceremonies as the JNIohamedan. Their mosques 
are destitute of all ornament, of all pictures, of every thing 
that could gratify the senses or intoxicate the mind, and are 
only decorated with passages from the Koran, their holy 
writings. Their worship consists in fastings, ablutions and 
prayers. They are perfectly satisfied with their frugal and 
dry service, and are complete fanatics in their religion. 
And yet they live in the warm, yea, hot latitudes of the 
earth, in comparison with which, Italy, Spain, and France, 
must be called cold countries. You find them throughout 
all Asia Minor, in burning Arabia, in India, in Persia, in 
Egypt, in the interior of Africa, and in the torrid deserts. 
That stupid prattle then, that the climate of France, 
Italy and Spain demands that we convert the worship of 
God into a theatrical exhibition, and that pilgrimages, pro- 
cessions, masses and pictures of Saints and Madonnas are 
essential, has always been exceedingly abhorrent to me, and 
is only depreciating those noble nations. The people, it is 
true, are every where the same, and they take delight in 
that which pleases the eye and charms the ear. But 
Iheir imperfection is not our law, but we must elevate them 
to more refined spiritual enjoyments. That this can be the 
case in southern countries, you see in the reformed chris- 
tians of France and Switzerland, whose church service is 
much more simple than ours, but yet they are zealously 
evangelical, and in France many of them have been un- 
shrinking martyrs of their faith, and steadfastly withstood 
all temptations to apostacy. And was it necessary to es- 
tablish another mode of worship for the Hollanders and the 
English in the colonies, which are situated beneath the 
burning equator, in West India, in South Africa, East India, 
and the Indian peninsula, because there a hot sun burns 



OR THE PROSELYTES. ] (jy 

over their heads, and the cold fogs of their native land do 
not surround them ? But even if it were true, as you say, 
that the south cannot dispense with its theatrical worship, 
and that the north only begets men insensible to feeling be- 
cause employed with the understanding alone, then it would 
be an expression of the Creator himself, that Romanism 
was not calculated for the north, and consequenlly you have 
no right to condemn and calumniate us. It is nothing but 
foolish, groundless prattle! If the inhabitant of the south 
is already a creature of lively sensibility, then his inflamma- 
ble temperament should not in addition be flattered by re- 
ligion; he should not be entertained by religious shows, 
and the extravagancies of his warm blood should not be 
encouraged by endless ablutions and indulgences. By 
these means he is only made worse, more volatile, and care- 
less, — he is by the climate already disposed to idleness, and 
by your endless fasts you only nourish that disposition. 
You should rather give him a church service which would 
cool the blood, moderate his fire, and lead him to reflec- 
tion, and not to fanaticism. 

Henry. — Even if I grant that, dearest father, yet there 
is still one advantage which we have, of which you are al- 
together destitute. The Catholic worship represents the 
invisible things and mysteries of religion in splendid paint- 
ings and ceremonies which promote devotion in a great de- 
gree. 

Father. — Bernhard, I leave you to reply to that. 

Bernhard. — Let ut see Henry, what you have more than 
we. We have public preaching and much more frequently 
than you ; the Lord's supper also,, and we do not adminis- 
ter it half, as you do, but whole, as Jesus instituted it. We 
have singing, prayer, and baptism. We also celebrate the 
principal festivals of the church. We also have, as you, 
churches, organs, clocks, choirs, the ordination of the 
clergy, and their solemn installation into office. What you 
have besides, are processions, and pilgrimages, of which 
it must be acknowledged, that they cherish devotion in a 



IgQ HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

very small degree, yea, not at all; you have pictures of 
Saints, holy water, incense, the baptism of bells; — mere tri- 
fles, which are unworthy of notice. The principal thing is 
the 7«as5, and that alone. 

Henry. — You are right! it is the mass, which consti- 
tutes the grand distinction ; that is the principal part of the 
Catholic worship, which exceeds every thing in importance, 
even the sermon. 

Bernhard. — If we attend to the writers of your church, 
the mass is the most exalted service that can possibly exist, 
and awakens devotion more ardently than any thing else 
imaginable. But let us hear what your mass is, I mean that 
which the priest alone celebrates, and not the Lord's sup- 
per, which we also have. The mass, says the Council of 
Trent in the 22d session, is an unbloody sacrifice, in which 
the priest ofiers to God the same Christ who hung upon the 
cross, as an atonement for sins and transgressions, even if 
they be enormous ; (etiam ingentia;) a sacrifice, which the 
priest offers not only for the sins of the living, and in the 
place of punishments and penances, and for other necessities, 
but also for the departed, but yet not wholly purified chris- 
tians in purgatory. The council not only authorizes public 
masses, at which the congregation is present, but also au- 
thorizes, yea, commands private masses, which the priest 
may hold in a retired chapel, and enjoins that the mass 
shall be celebrated in the Latin lanofuaore. Is it not so ? 

Henry. — Even so. 

Bernhard. — The principal idea, then, which lies at the 
bottom of the whole affair is this, that the priest, in per- 
forming the service of the mass, offers the body of Christ, 
as a sacrifice to God anew. The fact that the sacrifice of 
the mass is the principal feature in the Catholic worship, 
should afford you a complete development of the whole 
character of the Romish church, of her service and of her 
fundamental difference from the Evangelical church. The 
character oT the Romish church is jiriestly. From the fourth 
century onward, the christian bishops were regarded as 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 



169 



counterparts of the Old Testament priesthood ; they were 
believed to correspond in all respects ; they were no 
longer considered what the apostles had been, and what 
it was the wish of the apostles they should be, namely, 
teachers, examples and overseers of the church, but as me- 
diators between God and men, who sacrifice to God for 
men, and who thus procure for them grace and pardon 
from God. So soon as this view became prevalent, so soon 
was there attributed to all the services of the bishops and 
other clergy, a priestly, that is, a propitiatory influence with 
God, which was productive of grace. Their services in 
baptism, confirmation, the solemnization of matrimony, 
and the like, produced, as christians believed, that effect 
on the supernatural world. And this is the principal 
distinction between the Evangelical and Catholic worship, 
that we do not ascribe to our worship any supernatural ef- 
fect on God, but only a moral effect on men, and we arrange 
and conduct it accordingly. Our worship is intended to 
enlighten the understanding, to incline the will to the 
practice of christian virtue, and to purify and sanctify the 
feelings. Hence the preaching of the divine word, in con- 
nection with singing and prayer, is with us the principal 
matter. The Catholic worship, as a sarcerdotal one, is intend- 
ed to operate on the invisible world, on God, and to move 
him to absolve you from punishment, and to exercise grace 
towards you. Hence preaching is with you a subordinate 
service ; at every time of worship there is required a sacri- 
fice, and this is performed in the priest's celebrating the 
Lord's Supper for himself, and thus a continual sacrifice is 
offered to God. 

Henry. — But is there not something consolinor in thit 
continual sacrifice, that amid our daily infirmities, the grace 
which we so much need is daily operating ? 

Bernhard. — This sacrifice of the mass which is always 

to be had for money, may certainly be very consoling to 

him, who desires constantly to sin. He will not be apt to 

let his sins become very old. They will always be youngs 

15 



170 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

and blooming. For as the church father Arnobrius, (Adv. 
Gentes, XII. p. 1'28,) correctly says, "The multitude 
of sins will only be increased, if the hope of absolution is 
held out, and men will willingly submit to penances, when 
the grace of the pardoning power can be purchased." But 
this consolation of the mass is not only dangerous to mo- 
rality, but it is entirely without foundation. What idea 
must men entertain of God and of his grace, if they can be- 
lieve, that so often as the priest sacrifices, God is compel- 
led to be gracious to the sinner, and to change his mind re- 
specting him ? For such a compulsion is inseparable from 
the idea of the sacrifice and its effect on God, because, if 
God v/ere voluntarily gracious, there would be no necessi- 
ty of the sacrifice of the mass by the priest. But besides, 
this whole view of the mass has not the least foundation in 
the scriptures. I challenge you to show me a single pas- 
sage in the New Testament, in which the Lord's Supper 
even in the general, is represented as a sacrifice oflfered to 
God. For I will not even ask you for the proof that a priest 
is to offer it. You will not attempt to prove that. In the 
whole New Testament, although reconciliation through the 
death of Christ is often spoken of, you will not find one pas- 
sage, in which it is even remotely intimated, that the sa- 
crifice offered by Christ of himself, was or is to be repeated 
among christians. On the other hand, the whole epistle to 
the Hebrews expressly contradicts that sentiment, for it is 
the object of that epistle to show, that by the sacrifice of 
Christ, which he once offered, a// sacrifices among christians 
are rendered unnecessary. To quote only a few passages 
from that epistle, will be sufficient. 

Heb. vii. 27. Christ needeth not daily as those high 
priests (of the Old Testament) to offer up sacrifice, first 
for his own sins, and then for the people's, for this he did 
once, when he ofiered up himself. Ch. ix. 12. The high 
priest Christ "by his own blood, entered in once into the ho- 
jy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." Ch. 
ix. 25 — 28. "Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 171 

the high priest entered into the holy place every year with 
blood of others; for then must he often have suffered 
since the foundation of the world ; but now once, in the 
end of the world hath he appeared, to put away sin by the 
sacrifice of himself, And as it is appointed unto men once 
to die, but after this the judgment ; so Christ was once of- 
fered to bear the sins of many." Ch. x. 10. "By the which 
will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of 
Jesus Christ once for all. (Verse 14.) For by one offering, 
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. (Verse 18.) 
Now where remission of these (sins) is, there is no more 
offering for sin." 

Can any thing be plainer than these passages? Is not the 
repetition of the sacrifice of Christ in every form, here de- 
clared untenable and perfectly superfluous? And where in 
the first epistle to the Corinthians, which treats so exten- 
sively of the Lord's Supper, does the apostle Paul express 
the opinion even remotely, that the sacrament is a se- 
cond sacrifice, that the priest shall partake of it for himself 
only, and that thereby the priest sacrifices Christ anew ? 

Henry. — I acknowledge that a second sacrifice is no 
where spoken of in the New Testament. 

Bernhard. — Say rather, that the second sacrifice is dis- 
tinctly represented as unnecessary. From all this, then, 
it is evident that the fundamental doctrine of your church 
respecting the mass is an error, unfounded in the scriptures, 
and consequently every thing that your church teaches of 
the efficacy of the mass, particularly the private and soul 
masses, is fundamentally erroneous. But this is not the 
only thing erroneous, that lies at the foundation of your 
mass. The second error equally great, upon which the 
whole rests, is this, that bread and wine are changed by the 
consecration of the priest into the body and blood of the 
G=od-man, with which at the same time, (as the Council of 
Trent, session 13th says,) the soul and divinity of Christ are 
present, (verum domini nostri corpus, verumque ejus san- 
guinem cum ipsius anima et divinitate existere.) But this 



172 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

change is not supported by a single word of the scriptures. 
And the whole matter is in itself a palpable contradiction. 

Henry. — I know what you are after. You think, we 
teach that the bread in the Lord's Supper is bread, and not 
bread at the same time ; that would certainly be contra- 
dictory. But the church teaches, that the substance of the 
bread is changed into the body of Christ, but that the form 
and the external appearance of the bread and wine remain 
unchanged. 

Bernhard. — I did not believe, that you — pardon me ! 
would betake yourself to such a groundless subterfuge. 
Tell me, what is the difference between the substantial and 
the accidental in the bread ? If the bread still smells like 
bread, tastes, nourishes, and is, and has every thing like 
real bread, what is then that substance, that can fall away 
and be displaced by the body of Christ ? 

Henry continued silent, unable to reply. 

Bernhard. — How can you suffer yourself to be deceived 
by such miserable subtleties ? This whole doctrine of 
transubstantiation, as history tefls us, first originated in the 
ninth century only from Paschasius Radbertus ; it was at 
that time violently assailed by the most distinguished di- 
vines, such as Maurus^ John Erigena and Ratramnus, and 
was only first ratified in 1063, at a council held at Rouen. 
The belief that the host is the body of God, and is offered 
to God as a renewed sacrifice is founded on that doctrine. 
I will not even mention the contradiction that arises from, 
the fact, that the priest himself consumes the host, and 
hence appears to offer the sacrifice not to God, but to him- 
self, which militates against all the customs of the Old 
Testament, in which that which was to be offered to God, 
was either sprinkled towards the altar or burned, but never 
consumed by the priest, although the priest received a por* 
tion of the offering. With this there are connected many 
other errors, for instance, that of purgatory ia masses for 
■ouls ; of other masses, you believe that they can serve all 
the various wants of life,, aud hence, you. caa have a mass. 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 173 

read for good weather, for a safe journey, for the thriving of 
cattle, and for other things, to which surely the exalted sa- 
crifice of Christ, never had any reference. If then the fun- 
damental ideas of the mass are errors, it is very clear, that 
it cannot excite a salutary devotion, unless the believer be- 
comes an unbeliever, and entertains very different opinions 
of the mass, and by his own devotion attributes to it a dif- 
ferent efficacy. But all ceremonies which exhibit an error, 
and which men conscious of that error, must interpret to 
themselves in a sense totally diflferent from that designed, 
in order to excite devotion, are false, useless, and supersti- 
tious, and dare not find a place in the worship of christians. 
For a ceremony is the picture of a thought held up to the 
senses, and must hence be conformed and suited to that 
thought, just as a garment to the body. It only receives 
dignity from the thought of the truth on which it is founded, 
and thus impresses the mind; independent of that it is 
empty and injurious. 

Henry. — I feel the truth of what you say. I myself have 
often at the mass thought of something else for my edifica- 
cation. I regarded it as a representation of the omnipre- 
sence of God. 

Bernhard. — The sensation of the greatness and glory 
of God will be more powerful in your soul, if you contem- 
plate the starry heavens with the worlds revolving in eternal 
silence, than a vaulted church with the priest at the altar. — 
And did you not miss our admirable hymns in the Romish 
church ? 

Henry. — Indeed I cannot deny, that the Evangelical 
church singing, in the matter and form of the hymns, exceeds 
every thing that we have in that part of our service, and 
that it is peculiarly calculated to excite devotion. I will ac- 
knowledge to you, that that old hymn, "Commit thy wayn 
to God," &c. and that beautiful one of Gellert, "My days on 
earth are ending," still afforded me the most heartfelt edifi- 
cation even in Rome. 
15* 



174 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

Bernhard. — Neither dare you forget the influence of our 
preaching. We have indeed an infinite advantage over 
you, that instead of the mass we have made preaching the 
principal part of the service. And thus pulpit eloquence 
with us is elevated to a height, which has produced the 
most excellent results in tlie extension of knowledge and 
religion. Our preachers have bec6me models to Catholic 
Germany, and one single sermon of Reinhard, Draeseke 
and a hundred others, affords more solid religious nourish- 
ment than the most solemn mass with its eternal sameness. 
Tell me, what kind of sermons did you hear in Italy, which 
edified and made you a better man ? 

Henry. — Here I must grant you every thing, my dear 
friends; for it is too true, that the sermons which I heard in 
Italy were not only not edifying to my ear, accustomed to 
better sermons, but were often in the highest degree oflfen- 
sive. In Catholic Germany it is diflTerent; but I myself be- 
lieve that it is owing to the proximity and influence of the 
Evangelical preachers, that the Catholic preachers are bet- 
ter here than in Italy. 



CHAPTER XV. 

ANTONIO AND PURGATORY. 

"Sir^ — said Antonio the next morning with a lively coun- 
tenance to Henry, — I have got rid of a great fear, which 
has hitherto often tormented me^ and I feel as if I was born 
anew, free as a biird in the air. 

Henry. — (Smiling,) It is no doubt something again that 
you have found in your New Testament, that puts you int» 
such high spirits. 



OR THE PROSELYTES, * 175 

Antonio. — And is there any thing wrong in that, dear 
sir? Is not this book given to us that we should search it? 
O I bless the hour it came into my hands ! It has made day 
out of the night which surrounded nie, and instead of the 
chains which fettered "me to the earth and the mercy of the 
priests, it has given me wings which raise me to God, "who 
is also my father, to whom I am not, as to the priest a mean 
servant; He permits me to experience his grace, and no 
man is able to separate me from him. 

Henry. — Well, what is it that you have found? 

Antonio. — That there is no purgatory in which my soul 
is once to be tormented! 

Henry. — What is your idea of purgatory ? surely a gross 
and vulgar one, as though it were a kitchen fire in which' 
the soul will experience all the pains, which you feel when 
you burn yourself. But many good Catholics have a more 
refined idea of it. Their opinion of it is, that the soul will 
be purified of all the dross of sin, and they leave it undeter- 
mined, how it is to occur. For the holy council of Trent has 
certainly established the doctrine of purgatory, but did not 
determine what representation men should make of it to 
themselves. 

Antonio. — That is a mere subterfuge, dear sir. The 
holy council could have had no other conception of it, than 
that which has been general among men until now; their 
idea was, that it was real fire, and hence the council says, 
that souls will be "tortured" by it. Your so called refined 
idea is nothing but a subterfuge, by which men seek to 
avoid the offensiveness of a doctrine, the falsehood of which 
is too evident. If the condition is one of torture, and if 
men for mercy's sake are bound to have a multitude of soul 
masses read, to deliver the soul from this torment, we must 
believe that, it is real fire, or some other condition of in- 
describable agony. 

Henry. — You are right; the church believes that it ig 
Bttch a state of agony. 



IJQ HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

Antonio. — But is not the expectation of a purgatory, in 
which pious souls are to be tormented after death some- 
thing fiightful, that will not only embitter the dying hour 
of a good christian, but fill him with alarm during his 
whole life? And what a terrible thought, when a friend of 
ours, a husband or wife, a father or mother dies, that we 
must believe notwithstanding all their piety, that they are 
in awful torment, the very idea of which fills us with 
horror! 

Henry. — But Antonio, you certainly know that the 
church has the means of delivering souls out of purgatory, 
namely, the masses for souls. 

Antonio. — Certainly! After the church has first made 
us fear and tremble, then she offers us help. It really ap- 
pears as if men were frightened for the express purpose of 
consoling them, and as if purgatory were invented for the 
masses, and not the masses for purgatory ! And how can 
such a poor fellow as I am be benefitted by these masses^ 
for they cost money? The church does not make it an 
easy matter to get out of purgatory ; for one mass is not suf- 
ficient; for the rich, who can pay for many masses, many 
are read, and for princes they are read by thousands. If owe 
mass were sufficient to get a soul out of purgatory, it would 
be sinful extravagance to suffer the body of God to be sacri- 
ficed by the priest a hundred, yea, a thousand times, for a 
thing already accomplished by the first mass. If then many 
masses are used, I do not exactly know how many, in order 
to escape the tortures of purgatory; then you see plainly,, 
that the consolation of the church is consolation only for 
the rich and exalted, who can pay for many masses, but 
not for the poor, who must serve out their time in purgato- 
ry. "The gospel is preached to the poor," says the Sa- 
viour, when he (Matt. ix. 5.) replied to the messengers of 
John the Baptist. But purgatory is no gospel or good 
news, — for the poor it is tidings of horror. But the whole 
New Testament contains not a single word about purga- 
tory. 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 277 

Henry. — You do not perhaps know, Antonio, that the 
passage 1 Cor. iii. 13, 15, is generally quoted in its favor. 

Antonio. — I know that very well ; but only read for your- 
self the passage, ver. 9 — 19 in connection, and the purga- 
tory of souls will immediately be extinguished. Paul warns 
the Corinthians against creating parties, and following one 
distinguished teacher rather than another. All the teachers 
he says, by their teaching helped to build the temple of 
God, that is, the christian community; but what their ma- 
terials were, whether stone, or wood, or hay, the fire of 
trouble and persecution would prove and decide. Then the 
building constructed of wood and straw will be destroyed 
by fire, and the master builder, that is the teacher himself, 
if he is saved, it will only be by fire, that is, certainly not 
without great damage to himself. The words do not refer 
to souls after death, but to the church on earth in times of 
persecution. The fire represents severe trials, but is by no 
means intended as real fire ; for the building is also figura- 
tively spoken of the christian community, and ston^, wood, 
and hay, which are to endure the fire, are figuratively spo- 
ken of good and bad doctrines, of truth and error. It 
would be foolish, if in this whole simile you were to inter- 
pret the expression fire, literally, but the others, temple^ 
stone, wood, hay, figuratively. 

Henry. — Certainly that passage proves nothing, and I 
myself never used it as such; but you have found nothings 
I suppose, that directly disproves the existence of purga- 
tory. 

Antonio. — Most certainly have I found enough, and it 
is just that which to my joy has delivered me from such 
great fear. It is already enough for me^ that Jesus and the 
apostles, who so often and extensively spoke of a future 
state, said not a word about a purgatory; for they could not 
have been silent about it altogether. But they speak in a 
maiiiner, which shows that there can be no purgatory for 
pious souls. Of poor Lazarus, Jesus says, (Luke xvi. 22.) 
*'Aod it came to pass, that the beggar died and was carried 



178 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

by angels into Abrahann's bosom;" therefore not into purga- 
tory. To the thief on the cross he cried out (Luke xxiii. 43.) 
*'To day shalt thou be with me in paradise," and this man was 
a robber, whose soul certainly was less purified than that of a 
pious man. On this I trust, and hence I have abandoned aU 
faith in purgatory and am free from all fear. What could I 
think of the mercy of God? Can I prais6 the mercy of a 
father, who still suffers me to be tormented by a horrible 
fire and as it were burnt out, although his son sacrificed his 
life for me that he might forgive me, and the priest has un- 
ceasingly repeated this sacrifice in the mass for me, although 
I tried my utmost to fulfil his commandments! And, sir, 
how can you conceive at all of the whole affair, without 
making the soul something corporeal? The whole idea is 
certainly taken from metals, which are melted and purified 
by fire. The soul surely cannot be any thing as coarse a» 
a piece of metal, which is burnt out in the fire! I 

Henry. — Such a vulgar idea of it cannot certainly be 
entertained, althoufrh that is the idea of the church. 

Antonio. — I believe that it cannot at all be understood, — 
that men can have no conception of it. I come to this con- 
clusion from the manner in which I was purified of the dross 
of sin, which I brought with me from Italy by this blessed 
book, (holding up the New Testament.) There was no fire 
and no torture, although there was sorrow. I was brought 
to see the truth; I learned to love it; I resolved to prac- 
tice it; I do practice it to the best of my ability; this is the 
history of my purification, and no man can be purified in 
any other way. Sorrow purifies him, as it did the prodigal 
son, whose father did not first let him go through a purga- 
tory before he received him, but immediately prepared for 
him a feast of joy. Of this sorrow Paul says, (2 Cor. vii. 
10.) "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation 
not to be repented of;" "to. salvation," observe, not to 
purgatory. "He that is dead (says the same apostle^ Rom* 
li. 7.) is freed from sin." 



OR THE PROSELYTES. \JQ 

Henry. — Antonio, your soul is full of light! You are 
a happy man. 

Antonio. — That I feel, and thank God. But 1 owe it al- 
together to the gospel, to which alone I will hereafter cling. 
I have experienced to my salvation the fulfilment of what 
the Saviour says, "Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall 
be opened unto you." 

Henry. — In God's name cleave to it, Antonio. I at least 
will not lead you in any other way than that in which you 
yourself walk, conducted by the gospel. 

Antonio. — That would also be in vain! — how blind I 
was that I wondered so much, when we first entered the 
evanorelical countries, that presumed heretics weie also pros- 
perous, and that they were industrious, honest, and moral. 
I see plainly that the gospel daily exerts on them the same 
influence that it has on me; it makes them better and more 
contented men, and with such a people our heavenly father 
will be pleased. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE SAINTS AND MARTYRS. 

Henry did not end this conversation with his servant 
without some feeling of shame. Antonio, by the simple 
guidance of the gospel, had delivered himself from gross 
errors which his education had engrafted on him. This 
fact filled Henry with shame, inasmuch as he had suffered 
himself to be seduced from the evangelical truth into these 
gross errors. He became more and more sensible of the 
precipitancy with which he had acted; his regret became 
more painful, and he would have given much, if he could 
have recalled all that he had said and done. The thought 
of returning to the Evancrelical church, occurred to him 



180 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

frequently. But the sensation of shame always suppressed it, 
inasmuch as such a step would appear to exhibit him to the 
world as changeable and fickle, or as a weak headed youth 
who easily suffered himself to be outwitted. The custom- 
ary expedient of quieting his mind in this painful state of 
uncertainty, was the consolation that as a Catholic, he 
might be a good christian, and yet think of the doc- 
trines as he pleased. The next evening he for the first time 
communicated to his friends the change which the reading 
of the scriptures had occasioned in Antonio's mind. The 
family had been not altogether ignorant of the fact, but still 
did not believe that Antonio had proceeded so far. Henry 
confessed, that he could not withstand in the least degree 
Antonio's scripture proofs, and that this morning he had so 
clearly demonstrated the non-existence of a purgatory, that 
he himself no longer believed it. 

Bernhard. — I only wonder, dear Henry, that you ever 
have believed it, as it so evidently is a remnant of paganism. 
The whole idea originated from the system of Zoroaster, 
who lived before Christ in Media. He was a worshipper 
of fire, and taught, as his works still extant show, that at 
the end of time the whole world must go through a stream 
of fire, by which it will be purified and glorified in light. 
From him also the platonic philosophers among the Greeks 
took the idea of a purification after death. From these 
sources the opinion was also received by several church 
fathers, as Origen and Augustin. But both seem to have 
regarded it rather as a figure of moral reformation. It was 
by no means a doctrine of faith at that time. It became 
such only through the Roman bishop Gregory, in the sixth 
century, and then was gradually extended through the 
church. But the fear of purgatory, from which the priest 
alone could redeem, was too useful to the priesthood, and 
the masses for the dead founded upon it, were too profitable 
to them, that they should permit this opinion to be abolish- 
ed, when it was once prevalent. The council of Trent 
established it as an eternal article of faith in the Romish 



OR THE PROSELYTES. \Q\ 

church, and thus stamped as a christian doctrine, a thing 
that in its origin was as foreign to Christianity, as the invo- 
cation and worship of angels, saints and martyrs. 

Henry. — What? You declare this invocation and wor- 
ship to be foreign to Christianity? I see an advantage of 
the Catholic church in that very thing, that she has so large 
a number of saints and martyrs who are her ornament and 
glory, of which the Evangelical church is wholly destitute. 
These heroes of faith and humility bear strong testimony 
to the truth of Catholic Christianity, and their example is a 
powerful stimulus to the faithful. 

Father. — As far as I am acquainted with the legends of 
your pretended saints, we have no reason to envy you that 
advantage. But even granting, that the saints of your 
church were real saints, yet your glory on their account 
amounts to nothing. For as your church was first founded 
only in the 1 1th century, the apostles, saints and martyrs of the 
first thousand years, are not yours exclusively, but are com- 
mon to the whole church, and hence belonfj also to us. But 
to worship them and the angels, to consecrate churches, al- 
tars and festivals to them, to pray to them, to depend upon 
their intercession with God, all this on the best grounds we 
regard as wrong. What do your confessions teach on this 
subject ? 

Henry. — The council of Trent in the 25th session says: 
^'The bishops shall teach, that the saints intercede with God 
for men ; that it is good and useful humbly to invoke them, 
and to take our refuge in their intercessions, merits and as- 
sistance for the attainment of blessings from God through 
his Son Jesus Christ, who is our only Redeemer." 

The Romish catechism in the third part says; "The an- 
gels are also to be invoked, partly, because they continually 
see the face of God, and partly, because they willingly un- 
dertake the defence of our salvation. There is evidence 
in the holy scriptures of this invocation. Jacob (Gen. xxxii. 
26.) prayed to the angel who wrestled with him, that he 
would bless him." The same catechism in the fourth part, 
16 



1Q2 HENRY AND ANTONiO, 

says, "The holy church with crreat propriety directs her 
thankful prayers and invocations to the most holy mother 
of God, that she may by her intercessions reconcile us sin- 
ners to God, and obtain for us temporal and eternal bless- 
ings." Hence the Catholic church renders to these interces- 
sors a sort of worship, and permits them to be chosen as 
protectors of individual men, churches, provinces and coun- 
tries, and teaches, that men can receive from them protection 
against every kind of misfortune and the attainment of every 
kind of blessing. 

Mother. — I am indeed an unlearned woman, but I think 
that I could refute the whole episcopal assembly at Trent 
from the scriptures. For the doctrines of your bishops are 
so directly at variance with the scriptures, that it is wonder- 
ful, how these shepherds of your church could speak so de- 
cidedly against all scripture. They say, that we must invoke 
the saints and Mary, but the Lord says, (Ps. 1. 15.) "call 
upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou 
shalt glorify me." In Ps. cxlv. IS, it is said: The Lord 
is nigh unto all them that call upon him. (ver. 19.) He will 
fulfil the desire of them that fear him ; he will also hear their 
cry, and will save them." Hence it is not necessary that 
it be first introduced to his notice, and recommended to 
him by Mary and the saints. Jesus also teaches us to pray 
to God without such mediators, when (Matt. vi. 9.) he says : 
"After this manner therefore pray ye ; Our Father who 

ART IN HEAVEN." 

Henry. — But, dear mother, is not intercession for others 
a general duty ? And shall not the saints in heaven, also 
perform this duty ? 

Mother. — Intercession for others is undoubtedly a duty 
of love according to I Tim. ii. 1, Luke vi. '28, James v. 15. 
but all the passages of scripture treat only of the intercession 
of the living for the living, and not of the dead for the liv- 
ing. But this intercession is no where represented as 
something necessary in order to obtain help from God. The 
New Testament recognizes only one mediator for us, not 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 283 

Mary, not the saints, but Jesus Christ. In Rom. viii. 34, 
it is said, Christ is at the right hand of God, who also ma- 
keth intercession for us. And in 1 John ii. 2, *'if any man 
sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the 
righteous." This is also said in Heb. iv. 15, 16, and vii. 24, 
25. We do not then need the intercession of saints and 
angels. "Ask," it is said, "and it shall be given unto you." 
But it is still less allowable for the christian to worship the 
angels and saints in any manner. In Isaiah xlii. 8, it is 
said "lam the Lord; that is my name; and my glory will 
I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images." 
Jesus commands, Matt. iv. 10, "Thou shalt worship the 
Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve." And in Rev. 
xviv. 10, xxii. 8, 9, we read, that John was about falling 
down before the angel to worship him, but he declined the 
honor with these words: "see thou do it not, I am thy fel- 
low servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of 
Jesus; worship God." Neither did the apostle Peter accept 
of this honor, and said to Cornelius, as he fell at the apos- 
tle's feet, (Acts x. 25.) "stand up, I myself am also a man." 
VTou find not a single example of intercession of the dead 
for the livinof, or of angels for us in the New Testament. 
That example of the angel by whom Jacob desired to be 
blest, which is quoted by the council, is not at all applicable 
to this case. Thus Esau and Jacob were blessed by Isaac 
iand Ephraim, and 7vlanassah by Jacob. (Gen. xxvii. xlviii.) 
Can any one on that account say, that they worshipped 
Isaac or Jacob? — You see then that the scriptures direct us 
to pray immediately to God, and not to angels or to saints, 
and they are still farther from allowing them divine hon- 
ors. 

Henry. — But you are wrong, mother, if you believe that 
the Catholic church approves of the adoration af angels 
and saints; that is only paid to God ; she only allows a 
religious veneration of them by invoking them for their in- 
tercession and assistance. 



l84 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

Mother. — That distinction is nothing more than a mere 
play on words. It is written in the scriptures "call on me 
in tlie day of trouble," but not on an angel. 7b call on the 
name of God, or to call on God, is in many places in the 
scripture equivalent to worshipping God, or praying to him, 
and if there were yet a difference between praying to God, 
and worship or invocation, it would certainly be unintelligi- 
ble to the people, and that would really seduce them into a 
sort of idolatry. 

Father. — That is also the offensive feature of the sub- 
ject to me, that the abuse of regarding the saints and angels 
as subordinate Gods, can scarcely be avoided. For he who 
seriously believes that Mary and the saints heard his prayers,, 
must make out of them a sort of omnipresent and omnis- 
cient beings. Gregory, for example, is at the same time 
invoked in Naples, Rome, Piedmont, Sicily, Austria, Bava- 
ria, France, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Chili, Peru, Brazil, 
St. Domingo and other places. Either he must be, like 
God, present at all these places, to hear these invocations, 
or he must like God, be omniscient, to know all these 
prayers, sighs and silent vows, or he can ascertain nothing 
of all these, and of course, render no assistance. Particu- 
larly is this worthy of observation with respect to Mary^ 
who is worshipped and invoked most generally. It is cal- 
culated that there are 125,000,000 of Catholics in the 
world and 40,^000,000 of Greek christians, of whom the 
majority daily pray "Hail, Mary." They live dispersed 
over the whole earth. But the blessed spirit of Mary is to 
hear and present all their prayers to God. Is it not evident, 
that men must presuppose that Mary is a sort of goddess, 
hearing all, omniscient, and omnipresent? 

Henry. — Really I never represented the matter to my- 
self in that light, and see plainly, that it militates against 
all our conceptions of a human soul. But it is still a con- 
soling thought, to believe, that the saints pray to God for 
us. God is such an exalted being, that we feel ourselves, 
separated from him as it were by a great gulf, which Mary 
and the saints fill up. 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 185 

Mother. — That cannot be your sincere opinion, if so, 
you must not know God at all. The Psalmist says of him, 
^'thou understandest my thoughts afar off ; lo, there is not a 
word on my tongue, but thou knowest it altogether.^' Read 
the whole of the 139th Psalm, and learn from that, how 
foolish it is to seek for an interpreter of our desires to the 
omnipresent God, who knows our inmost thoughts before 
they are distinct to ourselves, and to ask for asainted interces- 
sor with him, who is our gracious and merciful father. Your 
worshi;) of the saints tends to alienate the hearts of christians 
from God; he becomes strange to them; they accustom 
themselves to think only of men ; God appears to them in 
the unworthy aspect of an eastern king, whom no man can 
approach, excepting through flattering intercessors and 
courtiers. Where is that love, that filial confidence which 
the christian has in God as his father? The Romanist 
prays more frequently to Mary and the saints than to God. 
But since you also pray to God I wish to know, why you do 
not always pray to God, but most frequently to the saints ? 
If you believe that he accepts prayer generally, and if con- 
sistent with his wisdom, hears it, then you must also be- 
lieve, that he always hears, and feels disposed to answer it. 
Consequently the intercession of saints is very superfluous, 
and in truth an insult to God, as though he were first to be 
reminded of his mercy, and rendered gracious through men. 

Henry. — You may not be wrong in that, dear mother, 
but yet it is not to be denied, that the martyrs and saints de- 
serve to be venerated and praised by us. 

Father. — Yes, — but only as all other pious christians 
generally, not as mediators between God and men. For we 
have only one mediator, and that is Christ. We may honor 
the heroes of virtue, and the martyrs of the faith. We may 
cherish their memory and celebrate their courage ; but pray 
to them we dare not. 

Henry. — But the religious veneration of martyrs and of 
saints is so ancient in the church, that it can be traced back 
to the first century. 
16* 



186 HENRYAND ANTONIO, 

Father, — All that would follow from that is, that the er- 
ror was ancient; but certainly an error, for it militates 
against the scriptures most decisively. 

Berniiard. — And besides that, an error, which is indebt- 
ed for its origin to an opinion, which was to be exploded by 
Christianity. The ancient world before Christ, even the 
Jews believed, that the souls of all men after death went to 
a subterranean world, that is, a place of abode under the 
earth, an opinion, which the first church fathers also yet en- 
tertained, and which you will find extensively set forth by 
Tertullian, if you read the 5ath and 58th chapters of his 
book 'On the Soul." To explode this idea was the design 
of Christianity, and hence, it every where promises true be- 
lievers freedom from death, or from this subterranean abode, 
and eternal life in heaven or with God. But the thought, 
that souls after death leave the earth entirely and go to 
heaven to God, appeared very singular and difficult to the 
ancient world, so that for a long time they adhered pertina- 
ciously to the old idea of the subterranean world, and re- 
garded immediate ascension to heaven as something ex- 
traordinary, — as a very distinguished reward. This they 
ascribed, as is seen from the oldest fathers, exclusively to 
the martyrs. They believed, that the reception of the mar- 
tyrs into heaven was like that of Christ, because they like 
Christ, suffered death. Of many passages of the old fathers 
which I could quote, I will only select the words of Tertul- 
lian, (''Of the resurrection," ch. 43,) who says; "No one 
who has departed from the body in death (without going 
into the subterranean world,) can immediately abide with 
the Lord, unless he suffered martyrdom, in which case 
he at once goes to paradise and not into the lower 
worlds." You can now easily see, how men could 
come to regard the martyrs as intercessors, namely, because 
they and they alone, besides the angels, were considered 
as inhabitants of heaven, who surrounded the throne of 
God. and consequently (for so humanly did they conceive 
of this matter,) had the opportunity of praying to God for 



OR THE PROSELYTES. {QJ 

the living. The ancient church then had still some ground 
in a prevailing, though erroneous and anti-christian idea, 
for regarding the martyrs as intercessors with God ; but there 
was no ground for extending this at a later day to the so 
called saints, than at most the desire of substituting in the 
imagination of the converted heathen, in the place of their 
gods of which they were deprived, something else, which 
did not appear to militate against the unity of God. 
The saints and martyrs were substituted in the place of 
those demi-gods, or those men, whom the Greeks and Ro- 
mans regarded as demi-gods, because they were considered 
not to be in the lower world, but in heaven. 

Henry. — If that be the case with respect to the interces- 
sion of saints, it is certainly founded on an erroneous 
opinion. But, dear Bernhard, why do you call the saints, 
so called or pretended saints? Do you not believe that their 
virtues are genuine and worthy of imitation ? 

Bernhard. — As the evening is far advanced, let us post- 
pone that to another time. 

Father. — That is also my desire ; for Henry, we have 
hitherto heard your accusations against our church, and 
your representation of the advantages which you ascribe to 
the Romish church. We have defended ourselves against 
the former, and the latter we have examined by the light of 
scripture and history. If you have joined the Romish com- 
munion from full conviction, you must also consider our 
arguments against your church, that you may know how 
to answer us. It will not be much, for in our defence thus 
far, many principal points have been discussed and decided. 



188 HENRy AND AiNTONIO, 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE MORALITY OF THE ROMISFI CHURCH— CHRISTIAN PERFECTION- 
INDULGENCE AND GOOD WORKS. 

Henry had nothing to object to this request of his father. 
It was reasonable. They had heard him ; he must now 
also listen to them, for he had nothing more that appeared 
worthy of bringing forward in his justification. With great 
reluctance he was obliged to acknowledge to himself, that 
every thing, by which he hoped triumpliantly to justify him- 
self, had vanished into air. True, none of his relations had 
yet uttered an expression which alluded even to the abso- 
lute necessity of his return to the Evangelical church ; but 
he certainly expected such a requisition from the resolute 
character of his father, and thought with trembling of that 
agreement which he had entered into with him at their first 
conversation, respecting the duty of abandoning an erring 
church. To receive more light on several points, which 
Bernhard had refuted from the nature and character of the 
first church, he took up the writings of the apostolic fathers, 
Justin and Tertullian, and read them with diligence. But 
they set before him a picture of the ancient church, which was 
less and less like the present Romish church. These wri- 
tings, far from afifording him any weapons for the defence 
of his church, on the other hand only sharpened more and 
more the weapons of his opponents. The state of mind 
which this occasioned was intolerable. He felt that he 
must soon come to a decision, and at the same time, that 
nothing but a return to the truth so precipitately abandon- 
ed, could again restore peace and harmony in his soul. So 
soon as he had once acknowledged this conviction, he be- 
came more contented, and hence in the evening he went 
considerably composed, to hear what his dear friends would 
advance in opposition to the church of Rome. 



OR THE PROSELYTES. Igg 

"The principal thing which I object to in your churchy 
said the father, is this, that she has corrupted the science of 
morals, and has attached to a false virtue, wliiph deserves 
not the name, the character of special holiness. The ma- 
jority of the saints of the middle and latter ages, received 
the honor of saints from this false virtue." 

Henry. — That is no doubt also your view of the subject, 
Bernhard, and hence you yesterday said, "the pretended" 
saints. Tell me your reasons. 

Bernhard. — On that subject I must necessarily be some- 
what lengthy, and I pray you to grant me your attention a 
little longer than usual. Before the time of Christ, there 
was an opinion prevalent in the east, that the body was the 
prison of the soul, and that matter was the origin of evil. 
This view of the body was not unknown to the philosophy 
of Plato and Pythagoras, and was also entertained by the 
hellenistic Jews, as the example of Philo of Alexandria 
shows; yea, it pervaded all that part of the world where 
Christianity first flourished, and hence was adopted by the 
first christian teachers. But unfortunately it perverted mo- 
rality. It was believed, for instance, that the soul could 
only approximate perfection, or be made an acceptable instru- 
ment of the spirit of God, and rendered worthy of union 
with God, partly, by abstaining from every thing that would 
be agreeable to the body, and that would excite the natural 
desires, or gratify the senses, and partly by employing all se- 
vere measures to weaken and blunt the natural appetites^ 
to mortify the body, and thus afford the soul a greater liber- 
ty in spiritual meditations. Even before the time of Christ, 
such abstinence or mortification of the flesh as it was called, 
was not uncommon. The moral zeal of the first christians 
led them to adopt this, and they soon carried it much far- 
ther. The natural appetites, which occasioned carnal en- 
joyments in satisfying them, were now regarded as sinful, 
and abstinence from this satisfaction of them, as meritori- 
ous ; the enjoyment of delicate food, matrimony, in fine 
every sort of luxury, indulgence, or mere carnal gratifica- 



190 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

tion was considered incompatible with christian perfection ; 
on the other hand, fasting, the most simple food and drink, 
severe abstinence from all public amusements and enjoy- 
ments, voluntary poverty, celibacy, the voluntary perform- 
ance of humiliating services, were regarded as particularly 
meritorious, and especially holy. Hence a second marriage 
was reprobated as an evidence of great incontinence ; the 
priests, if they made any pretensions to sanctity, lived with 
their wives as brother and sister, and many laymen did the 
same.* From this was evolved very gradually the doctrine 
of the Romish church respecting christian perfection, or a 
piety which does more than the moral law enjoins, and 
which God does not precisely demand, because it is not 
possible to all men, but which the apostles have still recom- 
mended as particularly acceptable to God. This constitutes 
the '•evano-elical counsels'' of the Romish church, and the 
actions flowing from them, the pretended ''good works" of 
that church. This perfection, according to your church, 
consists in celibacy, voluntary poverty, alms giving, fasting, 
prayer, blind obedience to priestly superiors, retirement 
from the world and its business and enjoyments, or monastic 
life, and every sort of voluntary severe treatment of the 
body. Those who distinguished themselves in this kind of 
abstinence and self-mortification received par excellence the 
name of saints.] But this pretended virtue was carried to 
the greatest extent at the time when the innumerable men- 
dicant monks arose, who made a peculiar merit of idle- 
ness, of supporting themselves by alms, and of living 
and wanderinsf about in the most disofustina filthiness. 

Henry. — But will you condemn such voluntary absti- 
nence, which was often founded on deep religious feeling? 

♦See Mosheim. Cent. III. Part II. ch. II. sec. 6.— (Tr. 

fCJemens of Alexandria says on this subject, (Cohort ad Gent. §. 11.) 
*'The counsels, whether a man shall marry, hold an oflGice, and beget 
children, are contemptible. The general commandments relating to 
piety are the principal matter; to live in conformity to them is alone 
necessary in order to attain eternal life." 



OR THE PROSELYTES. JQ^ 

Bernhard. — I grant that in the case of many it was 
founded on deep religious feeling; but it was evidently a 
false sanctity after which they strove. For it proceeded 
from incorrect views of human nature and the design of 
human life, and to the greatest prejudice of Christianity it cast 
into the shade the moral law, upon which the welfare of 
man depends. To live in lawful marriage, faithfully to bear 
all the burdens of domestic life, to bring up pious children 
for the state and the church, all this, according to this doc- 
trine of perfection is nothing ; but, not to marry, not to lead 
a domestic life, not to have and educate children, is sancti- 
ty. To live among men, to work for. them, to be engaged in 
trade, or any kind of business, to serve the state and to be 
useful to society, all that is nothing: but to lock up one's 
self in monasteries, to renounce the world and to be con- 
stantly engaged in pious exercises, is sanctity. But why 
should 1 expatiate on this subject? I will merely state the 
grounds on which I must reject this whole doctrine of per- 
fection. That which cannot become general, because if it 
became general, it would dissolve the constitution of civil 
life and human society, consequently, frustrate all the designs 
of the creator with man, and render the extension of the 
church impossible, is and never can be proper ; it is not 
perfection, but aberration from the truth, and enthusi- 
asm. Against this principle, you can indeed say nothing. 
But your pretended christian perfection, would unavoida- 
bly produce such a dissolution of church and civil society, 
and hence the whole system is pernicious fanaticism. 

Henry. — But the church does not intend that this chris- 
tian perfection shall become general, because all men have 
not the spirit necessary for it. 

Bernhard. — Then it is not perfection, not sanctity, for 
according to the directions of Christ and the apostles, every 
man is commanded to be perfect and holy. That which 
would be folly and corruption if it became o'en^ra/, cannot be 
virtue, when only a/ei« practise it. It is then something merely 
allowable, but nothing good. A country filled with merely 



192 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

holy monks and nuns, instead of industrious fathers and 
mothers would show very distinctly the complete folly of 
monkish virtue. And do you expect to reconcile the blind 
obedience which constitutes a part of this perfection, with 
morality, which must rather obey God than men ? Has 
not this blind obedience in the monastic order been often 
most shamefully abused, particularly by the Jesuits ? 

Henry. — But the church surely did not authorise such 
abuses. 

Bernhard. — But she should not authorise the principles 
from which such abuses proceeded. 

Henry. — Has she really approved these principles of 
christian perfection ? 

Bernhard. — Do you yet ask that? Has she not approv- 
ed them in every monastic order? Has she not founded on 
them her whole doctrine of penances, which the council of 
Trent declared as highly necessary ? Has she not express- 
ed her approbation of them in the worship of pretended 
saints ? Has she not on them tried to justify the celibacy of 
the priests ? But, my friend, this subject has yet another 
feature, very serious and very destructive to morality. It is 
taught, that the saints have by their voluntary good works 
of christian perfection, done more than God demands of 
men : they practiced virtue above virtue, or works of supere- 
rogation, and thus purchased merit before God, of which 
they do not themselve stand in need. This extra merit, it 
is further taught, remains in the church, and in these su- 
perfluous merits of the saints, the church possesses an inex- 
haustible treasure, of which the pope in Rome possesses 
the key. To all those persons, who fail in obedience to 
the moral law, and instead of merit have the guilt of sin, 
the pope can supply from that treasure as much merit as 
they need, to efface their guilt before God ; that is, he can 
grant them indulgence, and the written document certifying 
that he has out of this treasure of merit given them what 
their necessity required, is ■ — a bill of indulgence. 



OR THE PROSELYTES. J93 

How conveniently a man can procure virtue in your 
church [ Why need he fulfil the law of morality with dili- 
gence and anxiety, and procure for himself any moral merit, 
since the multitude of saints have heaped up an inexhaus- 
tible treasure of merit, which he need only permit to be im- 
puted to himself, and with which the church has always 
been very liberal ! 

Henry. — Bernhard, I cannot believe that it is so! This 
would be a real trade, which would vastly depreciate the value 
of morality. 

Bernhard. — Well then, only hear the papal bull, in 
which the late year of jubilee and the distribution of in- 
dulgences is proclaimed. 

"We have resolved to exercise the power which has 
been given to us from above, to open the fountains of hea- 
venly treasures, which have accrued through the merits of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, through the blessed virgin his mo- 
ther and the saints, to dispense which the author of man 
kind has granted us the power. We grant and vouchsafe 
grace in the Lord^ forgiveness and complete pardon of all 
iheit sins to christians, who in the time of jubilee confess 
with true penitence and sorrow, strengthen themselves with 
the holy communion, and who devoutly visit at least once 
a day, for thirty days in succession, or periodically, the 
churches of St. Peter, and of St. John, of Lateran, and St. 
Mary Massora, and fervently offer prayers to God for the 
glory of the Catholic church, the exiirpation of heresy, the 
harmony oi' Catholic princes, the salvation and peace of the 
christian community." 

Thus you hear whence the pope distributes his gifts; from 
the treasures not only of the merits of Christ, but also of 
Mary and the Saints, which the pope, we know not why, 
represents as heaped up at Rome. You can also receive 
a portion of them, if you go to Rome and pray for the ex- 
tirpation of the church of your native land. 

Henry. — Bernhard that was an unkind reflection ! 
17 



194 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

Bernmard. — Pardon me! my remark was really not in- 
tended to apply to you, but to the bull of the pope, which 
demands this from the faithful. I did not mean to wound 
your feelings, but to show you the monstrous absurdity of 
the doctrine, and the moral mischief it occasions. But 
surely you cannot justify this use of the presumed holiness 
of the saints, for it subverts all the principles of morality, 
and exhibits virtue, that is, the fulfilment of the moral law, 
as a matter of small importance, and thus depreciates it 
very low. 

Henry. — Certainly I do not justify that use, but consid- 
er it an abuse; but if any one chooses to follow the ''evan- 
gelical counsels," as they are called, I cannot blame him for 
it ; the alms giving that is included in it, is certainly very 
useful, and is a work of christian mercy. 

Father. — That is the only one of your so called good 
works, that is of any benefit to human society, and it has 
established among you many excellent charitable institu- 
tions. But you will not deny that the other virtues of the 
saints, as celibacy, fasting, monastic life, prayer daily con- 
tinued for hours in succession, blind obedience to the cler- 
gy, self-mortification and the like, are not of the least bene- 
fit to human society, and only draw men away from the 
commandment, "thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 
And I cannot even approve of your alms-giving. With 
you the merit is not in the giving, and the good you do 
thereby, but you seek it in the voluntary parting with your 
money or property. Alms-giving with you is a work of 
penance, by which you render satisl'action for your sins, as 
if you pay God for pardon, and yet in it you only do your 
duty and nothing more. Hence you go and cast money 
into the poor man's lap without choice or object, and thus 
you only make idlers and beggars, in which Italy particular- 
ly is so immeasurably rich, that one would believe, that beg- 
gary and idleness themselves belonged to christian perfec- 
tion. With us, the merit does not consist in the sparing of 
our abundance, but in the aid we render. Hence we do 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 195 

not support the idle, but the weak and those unable to work, 
and thus what we do, and it is really a vast deal, is not in- 
jurious to the public good, but useful. 

Bernhard. — Your religious veneration of saints also en- 
gendered the veneration of relics, which the council of 
Trent established, and in which, as the whole world knows, 
so much deception and gross mischief are practiced. This 
merit of relics, together with the pretended miracles con- 
nected with them, only nourishes the superstition of the great 
mass, but the effect is also this, that with the more enlight- 
ened it renders Christianity itself and its history suspicious, 
if not contemptible. I often wonder that intelligent bish- 
ops of your church do not feel, that a miracle working relic 
is nothing more than the miracle working fetisch* of a ne- 
gro in Africa. 

Henry. — 1 cannot contradict you in that, and neither 
will I deny that I have often heard sensible Catholics highly 
disapprove of these things, and volatile ones ridicule and 
scoff at them most wickedly. 

Father. — But if you acknowledge, my son, that the 
whole system of saint virtue militates against the spirit of 
genuine christian virtue, then you see here another proof, 
that the Romish church has failed in the principal design of 
Christianity, which is to deliver men from the dominion of 
sin, and lead them into the path of christian virtue. But 
let this suffice for this evening. When we meet again I 
will invite your attention to some other things of a similar 
character. 

*An Africanf idol. 



196 HENRV AND ANTONIO, 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



CONTINUATION— ADSOLUTION FROxM OATHP— THE POPES— MARRIAGE 
—BLIND ODEUIENCE— THE GOVERNMENT. 

Father. — Tt would not become me, my son, as an 
evangelical believer, to exalt the christians of my own 
church above the Romanists in respect to their morals. 
You have yourself seen Catholic countries, you have seen 
the seat and cradle of the Catholic church, and you are also 
acquainted with your native land; judge for yourself. If I 
am to believe the accounts of tiavellers, Italy is precisely the 
country, where domestic and civil virtue flourish least. 
Now I believe that I am not demanding too much when T 
say, that in Rome where the pattern and supreme head of 
christians reside, where the sacred and infallible priesthood 
reigns not only spiritually but temporally, where all receive 
the true faith from the fountain head, where the temporal 
power, which the clergy hold in their pious hands, offers no 
hindrance to their activity in promoting morality, but every 
possible means of advancing it; in Rome, where alone 
sentence is pronounced on the holiness and sinfulness of 
men, where heretics are condemned, and saints canonized ; 
in Rome, where the vice-gerent of Christ with his apos- 
tles, the cardinals, resides as spiritual and temporal mon- 
arch ; in Rome christian morality must flourish more than 
in any other place in the christian world, there the whole 
influence of Christianity upon men, must exhibit itself. Ro- 
man christians must be patterns for the christian world. Is 
this so, Henry? — speak. 

Henry.— No, truly, dear father, you will not only not find 
more christian morality there, but less than at other places. 

Father. — Then I am fully justified in the conclusion, 
that genuine christian faith, genuine christian character, 
in a word genuine Christianity is not found there. It is not 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 197 

to be imputed to the climate, for ancient Rome exhibited 
many splendid virtues, but it is to be attributed to the fact, 
that the pope and the clergy with their temporal power 
and glory have set themselves up in the place of Christ and 
the christian church, and that the whole design of calholic- 
ism is not, to make men virtuous and acceptable to God, 
but to make them obedient servants of the priesthood. — 
Hence that eternal series of sacerdotal measures, by which 
men, without ever being really reformed, are always absolved 
and conducted to heaven. But on this subject I have al- 
ready spoken at the commencement of our discussions. 
Hence that praise of the virtues of the saints, which fills 
monasteries and monkish orders, and enriches the churches 
and clergy. But of that we spoke last night. This even- 
ing I will yet direct your attention to several things which 
evidently must have an injurious effect on the morality of 
the Catholic population, and is indeed a serious charo-e 
against your church. The first is the cruelty, which she 
has always exercised against those differing from her in opin- 
ion, the persecutions which she has in all ages excited 
against those, who would not recognize the supreme au- 
thority of the priesthood, the monster of the inquisition 
which was begotten by them, and which the popes nour- 
ished and supported, the millions of bloody sacrifices which 
your priests have occasioned for the maintenance of their 
dominion, and that everlasting unchristian condemnation 
and cursinof of all evancrelical christians. 

Hekry. — I cannot deny that the popes of the earlier 
ages did charge themselves and their church with many 
sins of blood, but I still believe, that now a milder spirit 
prevails in Rome, and that they no longer practice the 
barbarities of the dark middle ages. 

Father. — It is a miserable deception, only played off by 
the proselyters for the purpose of soothing the abhorrence 
which the cruelties of their church have excited in the minds 
of men. Did not the former pope Pius VII. solemnly pro- 
test against it at the congress of Vienna, that the evangeli- 
17* 



1 98 n EN R Y A N D ANTO.N 10, 

cal christians in Germany should enjoy the same priviTeges- 
as the Romanists ? Did not the same pope address a circu- 
lar dated Nov. 30, 1808, to all foreign Catholic courts, in 
which he said : 

"It is as false as slanderous, that the concordat (with 
France in 1801) established the toleration of other worship. 
This religious treaty contains not a single word, that has 
reference to any worship condemned and forbidden by the 
church of Rome." 

But this worship condemned by Rome was that of the 
Reformed church in France. The same pope in May 1808 
wrote to the French clergy: "The indifference (of the 
French code of laws) which prefers no religion (confession) 
above another, is highly insulting' to the church of Rome, 
and is opposed to her spirit, for this church on account of 
her divinity and necessary unity cannot unite with any other." 
If then the Romish church until this hour condemns us as 
heretics, does not acknowledge us as a church, and contin- 
ually protests against our civil existence, you must confess 
that it is not the will that is wanting, but the power, to treat 
us according to the spirit of the middle ages. Does not 
this continual hatred and unceasing intolerance stand 
in open contradiction to the spirit of Christianity, which 
commands us to love those who differ from us, yea, even 
our enemies, and every where enjoins mercy and liberality. 

Henry. — I must confess that, my father, and 1 myself 
believe that the world would fare badly with respect to lib- 
erty, if the Catholic princes and people would act out the 
principles of hatred and persecution, which are incessantly 
preached to them from Rome. 

Father. — But the clergy of your church have also ex- 
erted a very corrupting influence on the morality of their 
brethren of the faith, in openly advocating and supporting 
immoral principles. I will say nothing of indulgences, for 
we entertain the same opinion of their pernicious effects. 
But how often have your popes of ancient and modern days 
declared the solemn oath of christians invalid, and thus 



OR THE PROSELYTES. I99 

undermined the sacredness of swearing by oath and rev- 
erence for God in the hearts of men? And did they not 
estabUsh the principle that no faith was to be held with 
heretics? But all this would have been of comparatively 
small importance, if only the Romish church had not given 
birth to the Jesuits, received and nurtured them, yea, even 
now again restored them. The morality of the Jesuits has 
become proverbial in Europe. They maintained the abomi- 
nable principle, that the end justifies all, even the worst 
means, and that hence rebellion, regicide, perjury, falsehood 
and every thing infamous, was allowable for the glory of 
God. They established the scandalous doctrine of proba- 
bility, as they called it, according to which a wicked action 
was allowed, if only probably a good effect might be ex- 
pected from it. They taught mental reservation in oaths 
and promises — taught, that an immoral action is not sinful, 
if in the execution of it men only thought of God. They, 
in a word became so impious and dangerous, that the uni- 
versal complaints of the Catholic courts procured the disso- 
lution of the order. According to a calculation made, it 
was found that sixty-eight Jesuitical writers encouraged 
and enjoined the crime of regicide. 

Henry. — But the Catholic church did not sanction such 
abominable doctrines. 

Father. — No, that she did not do, as the desire for the 
dissolution of the order shows. But the popes connived at 
these doctrines; they protected the order against the reign- 
ing powers as long as possible ; they have again restored it, 
they cherish and recommend it every where. But what 
your infallible pope, the inspired head of the inspired priest- 
hood, to which the Jesuits also bnlong, does, is chargeable 
upon your whole church, which recognizes him as the general 
father of all christians. Suppose a prince, who had dis- 
missed a minister of corrupt principles for injustice and 
fraud, would again restore him to favour, and highly honor 
him, who would not be forced to believe, that he also sanc- 
tions those principles and the practice of them? 



OQQ HENRY ANIJ ANTONIO, 

Henry. — It is certainly bad enough to restore an order, 
which the moral voice of the Catholic world condemned, 
without disapproving of their former corruptions and false 
principles universally known, and without giving to the 
world some security, or only intimating, that it had been 
reformed. 

Father. — Generally speaking, the pope cannot be con- 
sidered distinct from the Romish church, for the Romanists 
themselves connect him so closely with it, that they will 
scarcely regard those as christians, who will not submit to 
him, and all the bishops and clergy of the Catholic world 
at their ordination must swear "true obedience" to him. 
Now see, my son, how the popes have always maintained 
principles which are directly opposed to the gospel, and 
thus also led Romish christians to disobey the declarations 
of Christ and the apostles. They have always maintained, 
and of course, their bishops also, that evangelical christians 
are damned, because they do not believe more than the 
gospel contains, and hence show no disposition to know any 
thing of the peculiar and modern doctrines of the Romish 
church; and yet you have seen from the passages quoted 
from Christ and his apostles in our earlier conversations, 
that the bible every where declares simple evangelical 
faith in the divine Saviour, as sufiicient for salvation 
and makes our eternal destiny pre-eminently dependent 
on a christian life. Besides this, tlie popes have set this 
bad example to the christian world, that although they wish 
to be successors of Christ and the apostles, and receive all 
their power from them, yet they have established doctrines 
and ceremonies which are opposed to the express direction 
of Christ and the apostles. They have set the example of 
conscious and premeditated disobedience. Thus Jesus at 
the last supper distributed the cup, so also the apostles and 
the whole apostolical church, but the popes and the bishops 
deny the cup to the laity. Paul thus several times writes, 
(1 Tim. iii. 2, 12. Tit. i. 6.) "a bishop shall be the husband 
of one wife," but the pope and his bishops have established 



OR THE PROSELVTES. 2()J 

as law, a bishop shall be the husband of 710 wife. Paul 1 
Tim. iv. 3, censures those who forbid marriage and com- 
mand abstinence from meats, and in ver. 8, utters the correct 
principle: "bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is 
profitable for all things, having the promi.se of the life that 
now is, and of that which is to come," but the popes and 
the bisiiops forbid the priests to marry, declare celibacy 
to be a more blessed state, and teach that men avert the 
punishments of God and render satisfaction for their sins, 
by works of fasting and other bodily exercises. 

Henry.' — I can scarcely believe, dear father, that our 
church has ever declared celibacy to be a more pious state 
than matrimony. For how then could she honor marriage 
as a sacrament ! 

Bernhard.— The 10th canon of the '24th session of the 
council of Trent reads thus: 

"If any one declares that matimony is to be preferred to ce- 
libacy, and that it is not belter and more blessed to remain in. 
celibacy than to marry; let him be accursed." 

Here indeed there is no prohibition of marriage, but still 
marriage is declared as not good, a sort of necessary evil^ 
and it is maintained that it is more blessed, (beallm) that 
is, it more certainly leads to salvation to be unmarried. In 
this your church stands in open contradiction to the apos- 
tle, who says, the bishop shall be the husband of one wife,, 
who blames those who forbid marriage, and in 1 Tim. ii. 15, 
says of the married woman, "she shall be saved in child 
bearing, if they continue in faith and charity, and holiness 
with sobriety." It contradicts the institution of God from 
the beginning, who (Gen. ii. IS.) said at the creation of the 
woman : "it is not good for man to be alone," inasmuch as 
you teach, it is better and more blessed that he remain alone. 
Yea, you thereby censure God, who in creating two sexes 
and commanding them "be fruitful and multiply,!" rendered 
matrimony necessary for establishing a state that was not 
good and blessed. Whilst the whole Old Testament de- 
clares children to be a blessing of God, you censure the 



202- HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

lawful union of the sexes, which provides for the propaga- 
tion of the human race, as a condition not so good and 
blessed as celibacy. 

Mother. — And how low docs the Catholic church thereby 
degrade the one-half of the human race? Does she not 
consider women as a sort of evil and seducers of men into 
a less happy and blessed condition ? Does she not thereby 
express her disapprobation of the high and noble duties of 
mother and housewife ? O really it is much more difficult 
to bear the burdens of domestic life, to fulfil the duties of 
mother at the sacrifice of health and peril of life, to bring 
up with anxiety and care pious children for the world and 
the church of God, than to sit idly in a convent and sing 
psalms. 

WiLHELMixA. — And if it be true, that both sexes have 
their peculiar natural character, that the unmarried and dis- 
tinct life of both sexes only makes selfish beings of them, 
but that the true character of mankind is only developed 
in domestic, married life, when the parties communicate to 
each other their natural good qualities, then the declaration 
of your unmarried bishops at Trent appears still more un- 
becoming, and contradictory to the designs of the Creator. 
What could these bishops, neither of whom ever had a wife, 
understand about matrimony and the nature and condition 
of the female sex ! It is already bad and unreasonable 
enough, that the men alone without consulting the women, 
make all the laws respecting matiimony; but ten times 
worse, when the law-makers are officially unmarried. 

Henry. — Do you not know, Wilhelmina, that the apostle 
(1 Cor. xiv. 34,) says, "it is not permitted unto the women 
to speak in the church ?" 

Bernhard. — The apostle is there speaking merely of 
their preaching or holding discourses on doctrines, which 
certainly would not comport with the modesty of the ten- 
der sex, and for which their soft feminine voice is not adapt- 
ed. But when men frame laws relating to marriage, or a 
system of domestic discipline, or any thing else, which con- 



OR TOE PROSELYTES. 203 

cerns the maternal state, I regard it as highly proper to con- 
sult intelligent women on the subject. 

Henry. — True as all is that you have said about the 
praise which our church bestows upon celibacy, yet 1 must 
observe, that the doctrine of the council of Trent has the 
declaration of the apostle Paul in its favor, who (1 Cor. vii. 
1, 8,) says, "It is good for a man not to touch a woman ;" — 
"I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, it is good for 
them to abide even as I ; But if they carfnot contain, let 
them marry." 

Beunhard. — I am well acquainted with those passages; 
but their application is totally different. For why does 
Paul advise against marrying at that time? Not because he 
thought it better and more blessed to remain unmarried, not 
because thereby the way to christian perfection and virtue 
would be found more easy, as you teach ; but because he 
expected the approach of very troublesome times, when 
misfortune could be more easily borne, if persons were alone, 
than if bound by wife or husband and children. This he 
says in 26th verse ; '*I suppose therefore that this is good 
for the present distress, 1 say, that it* is good for a man so to 
be," that is, remain unmarried. The apostle, as was the 
case with the first church generally, believed, that the se- 
cond coming of Christ was very near and also the approach 
of the melancholy times and alarms, which Christ (Matt. 
24,) had prophesied would precede his coming. On that 
account they held it good (not more blessed) to remain un- 
married. Now since these apprehensions were unfounded, 
the whole ground of their well meant advice is removed for 
modern christians. 

Henry. — But therein you seem to lessen the reputation 
of the apostles, if you believe they erred about the time of 
the second coming of Christ. .^ 

Bernhard. — By no means ; for Jesus repeatedly told 
them, that they would receive no revelation on that point; 
hence they were left to their own conjectures on that sub- 
ject, like all other christians. For after Jesus (Matt, xxiv.) 



20 I HENRY Ai\D ANTONIO, 

had spoken of his coming, he added; (vr. 36,) *'but of that 
day and hour knowcth no man, no not the angels of heav- 
en, but my father only." And when the apostles asked him, 
(Acts i. 6,) whether he would at this time restore again the 
kingdom to Israel, he answered, (vr. 7,) "It is not for you 
to know the times or the seasons, which the father hath put 
in his own power." 

Father. — You sec then, Henry, that the popes and the 
bishops have spoken of matrimony, in a manner that con- 
tradicts the doctrines of the holy scriptures. And how do 
the principles and actions of your priests and the popes 
militate against the commands of the gospel respecting hu- 
man government 1 Paul writes, Rom. xiii. 1. "Let every soul 
be subject to the higher powers ; for there is no power but 
of God; the powers that be are ordained of God." And 
1 Tim. ii. 1. "I exhort therefore, that first of all, supplica- 
tions, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made 
for all men ; for kings, and for all that are in authority ; that 
we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and 
honesty." And Peter sa;^s, 1 Pet. ii. 13, 17. "Submit your- 
selves to every ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake ! 
whether it be to the king as supreme, or unto his governors. 
Fear God ! honor the king." TFiis is the voice of the holy 
apostles. But what has the pretended successor of Peter 
done? He dissolved the oath of allegiance of the subjects 
of the German emperors, of the kings of France, of Eng- 
land, and Naples, he set up and deposed emperors and 
kings, bestowed away kingdoms, and maintained that he 
could give and take away crowns. 

Henry. — But that was only in the times of the dark 
ages ! 

Father. — Well only hear what the Pope wrote as late as 
Apri^Glh, 1701, to the king of France and other Catholic 
rulers, on the occasion of the elector of Brandenburg, 
Frederick the 3rd, taking upon himself the dignity of a king 
of Prussia. 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 2()5 

"Beloved son in Christ! Although we believe that your 
majesty will in no wise sanction the proceeding of Frede- 
rick, Margrave of Brandenburg, Avho setting a most infa- 
mous example to the christian world, has undertaken pub- 
licly to usurp the royal title ; yet we cannot let it pass by 
in silence, because such a deed is opposed to the character 
of papal institutions, and is injurious to the reputation of 
the sacred chair, inasmuch as the sacred royal dignity can- 
not be assumed by a person who is not a Catholic, without 
a contempt of the church J^ 

But the kings and governors, for which Paul and Peter 
command men to pray, and to whom they enjoin obedience, 
were even heathen, namely, the Roman emperors, their 
governors and magistrates. But the popes do not even 
"honor" christian kings, and wish to be the rulers, not only 
of Catholic, but also of Evangelical princes; the pious apos- 
tles wished that christians should pray for heathen emperors 
and governors, but the late Pope Leo in his bull on the ju- 
bilee warns the faithful to pray for "Catholic princes," but 
not for Evangelical rulers, and also for "the extirpation of 
heresy." But the contradiction extends still further. Paul 
commands the christians at Rome, (Rom. xiii. 6, 7,) to pay 
without refusal the tribute imposed by the heathen authori- 
ties, but the popes maintain that without their consent no 
prince has a right to impose taxes on his subjects. 

Henry.— What pope ever uttered such monstrous arro- 
gance ? 

Father.' — Urban the 8th, who in 16*27 issued the famous 
Green Thursday Bull, containing seventeen maledictions, 
which on every Green Thursday is read in St. Peter's church 
at Rome, in which it is said word for word ; 

"We ex-communicate and condemn all, who in their 
countries impose or increase, or demand to be imposed or 
increased, any new taxes or assessments, except in such 
cases which are granted them by right, or by particular 
permission of the apostolical chair." 

Confess, dear son, that in these things your popes have 
18 



206 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

exalted themselves above Christ himself and the apostles, 
and demand more obedience for themselves, than for those 
whose vice-gerents and successors they pretend to be. Yet 
Jesus says, (Matt. x. 24,) "The disciple is not above his 
master, nor the servant above his lord." And here is the 
ground of their prohibition to the laity to read the scrip- 
tures in the language of the country, not so much, because 
they believe that it would be injurious to the laity, but be- 
cause they fear that the laity might find many things in the 
bible quite different from what the popes and bishops have 
established. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



THE CUP IN THE SACRAMENT— EXTRExME UNCTION— ANTONIO'3 

RESOLUTION. 

Sunday arrived, and the whole family as usual, attended 
church where the Lord's Supper was administered to nu- 
merous communicants. Antonio did not fail to be present, 
and lost not a single word of the whole service. As the 
members of the family after church were collected together 
in the garden, and the young Neapolitan was engaged in 
some business near them, the mother, who entertained 
a very favorable opinion of him, asked him hovv- he had 
been pleased with the Evangelical celebration of the Lord's 
Supper? Antonio extolled it as very appropriate and edify- 
ing. He was particularly pleased, that the Lord's Supper 
was not administered as amongst the Catholics, in Latin, 
but in the language of the country, and that the cup was 
also distributed. 

"How did it happen, Henry, (asked the mother,) that in 
the Romish church the cup is refused to the laity ? there 
appears to me to be no reason at all for it." 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 2Q7 

Henry. — The council of Trent in the 21st session, says, 
*'\V"e dare not doubt, that the partaking in one kind is suffi- 
cient for salvation. For, although Christ instituted the sup- 
per in both kinds, of bread and wine, but yet it does not 
follow, that all faithful christians are bound to partake in 
both kinds.* 

Mother. — I should like to know, why not? If the words 
of the Saviour, ^Hake and eai" authorizes the partaking of 
the bread, with equal right do the words '-drink ye all of 
this," authorize the partaking of the cup. If the latter is 
not obligatory on all christians, I cannot see how the for- 
mer is binding on all. The whole ancient church partook 
of bread and wine, as the passage, 1 Cor. xi. fully shows. 

Henry. — The council acknowledges that, in as much 
as they say, "though it is true that partaking in both kinds 
was common in the beginning of Christianity, yet that cus- 
tom in the lapse of time changed to a very great extent." 

Antonio. — But it did not follow from that, that this cus- 
tom was good and right, and that they were authorized to 
establish it as law. In doing that they certainly sinned 
against the express words of Christ; ''drink ye all of this." 

Father. — Neither is it true, what the council says of this 
custom. It first arose only in the twelfth century in England ; 
hence the Greek church which separated from the Latin, as 
early as the eleventh century, always distributed the wine. 
But the ground of it was the opinion which was first raised 
in the ninth century, that bread and wine were changed into 
the body and blood of Christ. Because it was feared, that 
the laity would let a drop of the blood of the Godman fall 
(o the earth, or wipe it from their mouth, they gradually 
withdrew the cup from them in consequence of this super- 
stitious fear. 

Henry. — The Romish catechism also gives other grounds; 
namely, the wine would become sour, if it were kept, like 
the host. 

*See Appendix, No. XII. 



208 K£x\IlY AND ANTONIO, 

Father. — And yet why do you preserve the wine ? Be- 
cause you believe it is no longer wine, but blood of thq 
God-man. But that it becomes sour shows plainly that it 
is yet wine. 

Henry. — The catechism says further; there are also 
many who cannot endure the taste of wine, yea, not even 
the smell, and in many countries there is great scarcity of 
wine, and the procurement of it difficult and expensive. 

Father. — Unfounded reasons ! Wioe is not offensive to 
one in a million of men ; why should it be withheld from 
all? Shall we abolish preaching, because a few in the con- 
gregation are deaf? If wine in some cold countries is diffi- 
cult to procure, it should not be also forbidden in warm, 
countries. But the small quantity that is used in the Lord's 
supper, can be procured in all countries of the world. AU 
these things could at farthest only justify an exception to 
the rule, but never could constitute a rule. 

Antonio. — Eating and drinking belong together, and are 
essential to human life. As these in the sacrament are 
figures of heavenly food or of grace, both must be given to 
men, as Jesus gave not only bread to eat, but also wine to 
drink. A half a sacrament is no sacrament at all. 

Henry. — The Romish catechism furnishes another rea- 
son, and that is the doctrine of concomitance, which the 
Council of Trent also established in the l-3th session, viz: 
that the blood is also contained in the body of Christ, and 
hence the partaking of the bread is at the same partaking- 
of the blood of Christ. 

Father. — I am acquainted with that invention of the 
scholastics, but can never think of it without disgust. For 
the thought of the bloody Jksh of Christ is something ex- 
ceedingly indelicate to me. 

Mother. — But they certainly do not mean that. 

Henry. — Assuredly ! For tlie Romish catechism in ex- 
press words declares it to be a heretical error, if any ono 
maintains that the bread contains the mere bloodless body 
(exsangue corpus) of the Lord.^ 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 209 

Mother.— Tlien I must confess, that I can have no con- 
ception of what you call the bloody body of the Lord. That 
fresh killed meat is bloody, I well know ; but to apply this 
to the glorified body of Christ, is to me out of all reason. 
This vulgar conception also flatly contradicts the apostle 
Paul. He describes the bodies of those risen, and the body 
of Christ since his resurrection, (1 Cor. xv. 42, &,c.) quite dif- 
ferently. He says, "It is sown in corruption; it is raised 
iu incorruption ; (but not consisting of flesh and blood ;) it is 
sown a natural body; (consisting of flesh and blood;) it is 
raised a spiritual body. Ver. 50. "Now this I say brethren, 
that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; 
neither doth corruption inherit incorruption." In Phil. iii. 
21, he says : "Christ shall change our vile body, that it may 
be fashioned like unto his glorious body." 

Antonio. — As respects myself, I hold to this, that Jesus 
took the cup and said, drink ye all of this! The learned 
subtlety, that the blood was in the flesh, Jesus certainly 
knew as well as the bishops of Trent, and hence, if it had 
had any application here, he could have spared himself 
the distribution of the cup. It would also follow from that, 
that the cup was not at all to be taken, and that the priests 
in no case had to drink it. 

Father. — Antonio h perfectly right. Thus they could 
also baptize in the name of God, and not according to the 
command of Christ, in the name of the Father, Son, and 
Holy Ghost, because according to the doctrine of the Trini- 
ty, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are in God. 

Henry. — I must acknowledge to you, friends, that there 
is no tenable ground for withholding the cup. But the 
evangelical church has not done right in abolishing extreme 
unction, inasmuch as it was undoubtedly instituted by the 
apostle James. 

Father. — Let us read the passage in its connection; 

James v. 13 — "Is any among you afflicted, let him pray. Is 

any merry, let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you, 

let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray 

18* 



210 ITEXRY AND ANTOI^irr, 

over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 
And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord 
shall raise him up, and if he have committed sins, they shall 
be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and 
pray one for another, that ye may be healed. . The effectual 
fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much." You 
see that the apostle gives good rules, which refer to three 
conditions, namely, affliction, joy, and sickness. You can- 
not contend that the third good rule is the institution of a 
sacrament, or you must also grant, that it is also a sacra- 
ment to pray in the days of affliction, and to sing psalms in 
the days of joy. The first two rules, no one has ever ex- 
plained as prescribing a sacrament, and consequently the 
third cannot be so considered. But what the apostle here 
advises is not your extreme unction. Among you it is per- 
formed by one man, and he is the priest; but the apostle 
says the elders, not the elder. He did not regard it as a 
priestly business, and hence at the conclusion, he says, j^ray 
one for another; confess your faults one to another. He ex- 
cludes none; he speaks of that which all should recipro- 
cally do, not of that, which concerns the priest. But he 
does not deduce any particular effect from the anointing with 
oil. We see from Mark vi. 13, where it is said, "they cast 
out many devils, and anointed with'oil many that were sick, 
ojnd healed thejn," that anointing with oil was a medical ap- 
plication, which is yet practiced in the east. You on the 
other hand teach, that oil, because consecrated by the bish- 
ops, has a sacramental influence in driving away the devil 
from the departing soul, and procuring for it the grace of 
God. James only mentions the use of oil, because at that 
time it was customary, and rather refutes the opinion that 
oil had a particular effect, inasmuch as he says, "and th? 
prayer of faith shall save the sick — for it availeth much." 
It is not the oil, but the prayer that he holds out as the 
principal thing, so that christians should not think that any 
dependence was to be placed on the use of oil. If then an 
evangelical christian in sickness calls for pious friends, or 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 



211 



his minister to pray for him, he conforms to this direction 
of the apostle, who gives it, not to ordain a sacrament for 
the dyings but to aid the sick in their recovery. Only for the 
last object does the Greek church practice the anointing 
with oil. 

Antonio. — I am at least convinced that my Saviour will 
not reject me, if 1 die without being anointed by a priest, 
provided I do what he demands of those, who enter into 
life, that is, keep his commandments. With the genuine 
christian his whole life must be an extreme unction. 

Father. — You are right, Antonio! Adhere to that and 
be constantly diligent in the practice of christian virtue; 
then you dare not fear that a priest can close the gates of 
Heaven against you. But you do not need him to open 
them for you; priests and laymen are equally subject to the 
judgment of God, and both need his grace. 

Antonio. — I am glad that you think so precisely with 
me, and this gives me courage to ask two questions ! They 
are these; whether I dare celebrate the Lord's supper with 
the congregation here, and whether the pastor would reject 
me as a Catholic? 

Father. — Antonio — you appear too intelligent, that I 
should consider these questions, with which you surprise 
me, as the result of inconsiderateness. Hence I must tell 
you, that you cannot celebrate the Lord's supper with us,, 
if you still regard us as heretics and condemned, and not 
as your christian brethren; for the Lord's supper is a feast 
of brotherly love, and they who celebrate it, must regard 
each other as brethren. 

Antonio. — If that is the condition, then 1 can commune 
with you with a good conscience. I am no longer a Ro- 
man Catholic, but an evangelical christian, and 1 acknow- 
ledge the christians of this country as my real brethren, 
and will hereafter hold to them. Do not look at me with 
so much surprise! I am in real earnest, and it is my mature- 
ly considered determination. 



2J2 HENRY AND ANTOxMO, 

Father. — But who, dear friend, taught and instructed 

you ? 

Antonio. — Here, — this book ! the gospel, — the discours- 
es of Jesiis, and the writings of the apostles. These alone 
I will hereafter hear, for they alone are the original teachers 
of Christianity. The pope I will leave in possession of his 
dignity and honors, but I can no longer consider him as the 
vice-gerent of Christ, nor the supreme bishop of christians, 
and I can no longer believe him and the bishops, except in 
as far as they teach out of this holy book. 

Father. — If that is your sincere conviction, then you 
have adopted the fundamental princple which we maintain 
against the Romish church; then you are in so far an evan- 
gelical christian. But — Antonio, have you considered every 
thing! be precipitate in nothing; for it is dangerous to 
be rash in such an important matter. I will not dissuade 
you from taking a decided step, but far be it from me, to 
persuade you to it. Your own inclination must actuate 
you, your own conviction guide you ; for you alone are an- 
swerable for what you do, and not another. 

Antonio. — I have considered all things well. No earth- 
ly expectation, no hope of gain actuates me ; my faith draws 
me, — my own heart. O if you only knew, how it was with 
my soul once, and how it is now ! Once, anguish, fear, anx- 
iety; now, contentment, joy, confidence! 

Mother. — I believe you, Antonio! You are not deceiv- 
ing us! — grant him his request, dear husband ! 

Father. — In this matter I can properly neither grant 
nor refuse; but I can advise, and especially, because Anto- 
nio has here no friend, except ourselves, and is a stranger 
in the country. Remember, Antonio, that you as a Roman- 
ist can reckon upon much support and aid from your breth- 
ren in the faith in this country, which you will loose, so 
soon as you unite yourself with us. 

Antonio. — I have thought of that and do not desire to 
be aided and preferred to worthy natives of the country on 
Buch grounds. 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 213 

Father. — If you are really in earnest, you must do one 
thing before hand; you must go and mention your determi- 
nation to some minister of this place and must suffer your- 
self to be examined and instructed as far as is necessary. 
My son will allow you the necessary time. 

Antonio.— I feel, that this, even if not necessary, is still 
proper, and am prepared to do it. But have the goodness 
yourself to speak to the pastor before hand on this subject, 
so that he may know what my object is, when I come to 

him. 

Father.—- That I will do; but then you must go to him 
yourself and inform him of your determination. 



CHAPTER XX. 



HENRY IN A DILEMMA.-A MAN CAN BE A GOOD CHRISTIAN AS 
A CATHOLIC. 

The conversation of this evening related exclusively to 
Antonio. The mother extolled the extensive knowledge he 
had gained of the New Testament, the father applauded 
his clear understanding and correct views, Wilhemina spoke 
in admiration of his amiable disposition, and Henry bore 
testimony to his fidelity and honesty. Henry related the 
interviews he had had with Antonio about his religious 
scruples, by which the father was yet more deeply convinced, 
that it was nothing but the silent power of the divine word 
which had here purified a mind from erroneous opinions 
engrafted upon it in its youth; which gave him occasion to 
say jocosely, that after this he would not think it strange in 
the pope to exhibit so much zeal against the reading of the 
bible by the laity. 

These remarks relative to the change of mind in the 
servant, were so well suited to the master, that he could 



214 HENRV A\D ANTONIO, 

not avoid feeling their applicability to himself. The youth- 
ful sincerity of VVilhernina had often induced her earnestly 
to request him to abandon hrs Romanism, and without say- 
ing any thing more about it again to return to the evangeli- 
cal church. A formal, public adoption of the faith did°not 
appear to her to be necessary. Henry would willingly have 
submitted to that proposal, if his conversion to the Romish 
church had really been so little known to the public, as he 
at first flattered himself. Notwithstanding the family had 
kept it a secret, yet it became extensively known, they did 
not know how. Even the day, on which Henry adopted 
the Romish confession, and all the minute circumstances 
attending it were spoken of in public. Only a short time 
before, a Romish physician, by the name of S. Frederick 
had settled in the place, where he was much esteemed for 
his intelligence and moral worth ;— he was distinguished 
for his liberality to the poor, for he not only accepted no- 
thing for his services, but even furnished the medicines at 
his own expense. Only a few days before, he had saluted 
Henry in public company as his brother in the faith, and 
unpleasant as was the salutation, yet Henry had publicly to 
acknowledge himself a Romanist. At the same time the 
doctor told him, though secretly, that his conversion had 
been heard of in D. and that it was expected, he w^ould be- 
take himself thither for protection, where he would be most 
heartily welcomed. Under these circumstances, it appeared 
to Henry that a silent return to the Evangelical church, as 
though nothing had happened, would only give occasion to 
greater chimour and public conversation. 

The mother entertained a different view of the subject. 
She could not refrain from telling the son, how happy she 
would be, if he would retrace the precipitate steps he had 
already made. How cheerfully would he have done it, if it 
could have been accomplished without shame and excitina 
public observation ! For he had to acknowledge, that he 
was no longer a Catholic in faith, that all his doubts against 



OR TFIE PROSELYTES. 215 

the Evangelical church had been removed, and that he had 
completely failed in justifying his conversion. 

The father had thus far maintained a total silence. But 
it was this silence which made Henry feel, as men do on a 
sultry day before an approaching storm. He well knew the 
decisive, resolute character of his father; and was not de- 
ceived on this occasion. For the father, after he had asked 
him in the evening, whether he had yet any thing important 
to advance in justification of his conversion to the Romish 
church, and Henry had answered in the negative, at once 
demanded his immediate return to the Evangelical church. 
''You have, said he, yourself acknowledged and was forced 
to grant, that all the advantages which you plead in favour 
of the Romish church, and by which you sought to justify 
your course, are either possessed by our church, or are 
unfounded, and on the other hand all the charges you 
preferred against our church, were groundless. Yea, what 
was most important of all, you were forced to grant that the 
Evangelical church admirably serves the whole design of 
Christianity, but that this was not the case with the Romish 
church; you yourself proposed and sanctioned the princi- 
ple, that in such a case it was the privilege and duty of a 
man to abandon his church, and to choose the church which 
really answered the design of Christ; — you have (he con- 
tinued in an elevated voice) given me your solemn promise 
to fulfil that duty; I now demand the fulfilment of that 
promise." 

Henry. — But, dearest father, what a noise will such a 
step occasion ! In what a disadvantageous light I shall ap- 
appear! I shall be regarded as a fickle minded youth, and 
they will believe that I became a Catholic from motives of 
worldly policy. The Catholics will hate me ; the members 
of the Evangelical church will mistrust me — perhaps despise 
me ! Ah I dear father, release me from my promise ! 

Father. — Only see, how conscientious you are about the 
opinions of the world ! — But you did not think, when you 
abandoned your own church, that you would grieve your 



216 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

parents, forfeit their love, become offensive to your fellow 
citizens, and that at your return they would look upon you 
with mistrust, contempt, or the better disposed of thera 
with pity? Then, when error was in question, all this was 
nothing; but now, when the truth is in question, you seem 
to be very tenderly concerned about the judgment of the 
world! take care, Henry ! You yet have time to regain the 
esteem and love of your friends, or to lose them forever! 

Mother. — Speak more mildly to your son, dear husband, 
only think, that he was far distant from us and from all his 
friends when he made that inconsiderate step. If he had 
become unfaithful to the truth, here in our midst, then your 
severe judgment might have been justified. 

WiLHELMiNA. — Besides, it was not a fault of his heart, 
but of his head. If we had had such evening conversations 
with Henry, before he went to Italy, as we have had since 
his return, he would most certainly have continued faithful. 
And I think, dear father, you should have done that, for you 
might have expected, that your son would not be permitted 
to live in Rome unassailed. 

Father. — I confess my fault, and I have exerted myself 
to the utmost to repair the injury it has done. But he ac- 
knowledges his fault, and yet desires to persevere in it, — 
persevere in it from vanity, on account of the perverted 
judgment of a few, although his conscience tells him to do 
what 1 demand of him. And if 1 was at fault for not warn- 
ing him when he went to Rome, he is doubly to be blamed 
for becoming a Romanist without asking intelligent advice 
on the subject. He did precisely as some great characters 
do, who suffer themselves to be made Romanists because 
they are too exalted to consult an intelligent Evangelical 
minister, who would soon drive away the mist from their 
eyes, which the proselyters have raised before them. 

Mother. — But do you believe it right, dear husband, to 
employ compulsion in matters of faith and duty ? 

Father. — How can you ask that question? We only 
compel obstinate children with the rod ; intelligent men 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 217 

must subdue themselves. But what application has that to 
this case ? 

Mother. — Do you not believe that you are exercising 
compulsion towards your son, when you let him feel your 
displeasure, and press the subject upon him with an earnest- 
ness, which powerfully affects his filial heart ? Dear hus- 
band, I as heartily desire as you do, what you demand of 
him, and it will greatly add to the happiness of my life, if 
Henry fulfils our wishes. But his determination will only 
then be of any value to us, if he voluntarily makes and exe- 
cutes it. 

Father. — I agree with you perfectly. But it is not ap- 
plicable here, for I do not wish to force him to do a thing 
about the moral necessity of which he is doubtful, but 
merely to overcome the infirmities which hinder him from 
following the dictates of his conscience. 

Henry.— But, dear father, there are many excellent 
•Catholics, who do not believe all that their church has even 
established as true, but are entirely Evangelical in their 
sentiments, and yet remain in the communion of their 
church. Will you on that account condemn them ? 

Father. — That is quite another case. The Romanist 
who lives in a country where the Evangelical faith is for- 
bidden as heretical, may well be excused, if he does not 
separate from his church. For in that case there are im- 
portant duties, which he has to perform for his civil 
welfare and the happiness of his family. And I have al- 
ready said, that a few errors and abuses, which we observe 
in our church, will not justify us in abandoning it, but 
that this is only the case when the church to which we 
belong, does not serve nor promote, perhaps hinders the 
design of Christianity, which is to deliver men from the do- 
minion of sin. In a country, such as Italy, Spain or Por- 
tugal, a Romanist will not easily come to this opinion about 
his church. But if this were the case, he would be bound 
by his conscience, to withdraw himself from his church. 
But a Romanist who lives in a country where the Evangelical 
19 



218 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

church is lawfully tolerated, and who comes to the opinion 
that the Romish church docs not answer the desicrn of 
Christianity, but that the Evanoeljcal church does, him I re- 
gard as absolutely bound in conscience, publicly to honor 
the acknowledged truth and to join that church, which does 
not serve the kingdom of the world, but the kingdom of 
God. This is your case, — and the obligation is doubly 
binding on you as an apostate from the true church. 

Henry. — Only one question, do not become angry, dear 
father! let me ask only one question more. Do you not be- 
lieve, that as a Catholic I can be as good a christian, as if 
I were again to return to your church? Must you not ac- 
knowledge, that in all christian denominations there are 
good and bad christians, and that even with an erroneous 
confession of faith a man may attain to the object of Chris- 
tianity for himself? 

Father. — I have already said what was equivalent to an 
answer to this question in our first conversation, when I 
proved to you, that it is a duty to leave a church under cer- 
tain conditions. But I will say a little more on this point. 
I by no means deny, that there may be many excellent men 
and very good christians in your church. But that is no 
ground to maintain, that in every church alike, a man may 
become a jrood christian, and that therefore, it is not neces- 
sary to unite himself to the better church. What would 
you have said, if the Greeks and Romans at the time of the 
first publication of Christianity, had thus expressed them- 
selves ; "incur heathenism we have also many excellent 
men, as Socrates, Plato, and others ; men can also be good 
even as idolaters, who fear God and do right; therefore we 
continue in it?" Or do you regard schools as superfluous, 
because amonof all nations, even where there were no learned 
institutions, learned and intelligent men have risen? We 
should never depend upon the hope that we would be excep- 
tions to the general mass, that we would be unhurt by the in- 
fluence of erroneous opinions, and of customs injurious to 
morality, and that we did not need the influence of the 



OR THE PROSELYTES. , 219 

truth. You would not certainly sanction it, if a man would 
associate with persons who were full of errors, and aban- 
doned to licentious indulgences, in the hope, that he could 
counteract the influence of such society. Thus you cannot 
say, that you will keep yourself free from the pernicious in- 
fluence, which the doctrines of your church respecting the 
priesthood, forgiveness of sin, indulgence, penance, the 
duty of blind obedience, and the condemnation of heretics, 
would have upon your mind. And even if you could do 
this, yet you would be without the excitements to a know- 
ledge of the truth and the practice of piety, which the 
Evangelical preaching, the free use of the scriptures, and 
the Evangelivial worship afford. In my opinion it is easier 
and more certain to be a £jood christian in the Evanofelical 
church, than out of her, and that men can become better 
christians within her pale, than out of it. And it is a duty 
not to despise such aid, but to employ it. 

Mother. — You must also remember, dear Henry, that 
the Saviour expressly demands of you to confess his gos- 
pel, and that you dare not slight the word of God without 
offending him. If all men had thought as you do, namely, 
that a man may be a good man, and may believe whatever 
he pleases, your Saviour would not have found fault with 
the doctrines of the Pharisees, the apostles would have 
continued to be Jews, and the fathers of the church, hea- 
then, and there would have been no witnesses of the truth 
in the christian church. 

WiLHELMiNA. — I believe that I can illustrate the matter 
very plainly to my brother by a simile, which you will no 
doubt think very proper for a lady expecting shortly to be a 
bride. If I had to choose between two gentlemen, one of 
whom bore so very good a character for intelligence and 
morality, that I must believe, he would make me a happy 
wife, but the other by his selfishness and many imperfections 
threatened to make me miserable, I would be very much to 
blame, if I would reject the former and choose the latter, 
flattering myself that I was strong enough to resist all the 



220 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

pernicious influence of his daily intercourse and most in- 
timate society. Thus you stand, dear brother, between two 
churches, to choose for yourself one or the other as your 
companion and guide for life.* But it is usual and proper, 
that person^ require time for consideration in such an im- 
portant choice, and I think, father, that we should allow 
Henry time for meditation that he may make up his mind 
fully. 

This proposition of Wilhelmina met with general appro- 
bation ; — all acknowledged it was very reasonable, and they 
agreed, that only after the lapse of eight or ten weeks 
would they again introduce this subject of conversation. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

HENRY AND ANTONIO— LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION-END. 

Whilst Henry was fluctuating, Antonio was rapidly pro- 
ceeding in the proper path. He had gone to the pastor of 
the place, and mentioned his desire of attaching himself to 
the Evangelical church. The pastor examined him very 
closely on his motives for this step; for he suspected that 
there was something impure at bottom. The candor of 
Antonio, his deep religious feeling, his general character 
and circumstances, soon convinced the pastor, that the 
Evangelical church would gain in Antonio a sincere and 
respectable member. At length he saactioned the deter- 
mination of Antonio, and with great satisfaction devoted 
himself to the work of instructing him. But he soon saw 
with astonishment, how^ little he had to do. The young 
proselyte was so well acquainted with the New Testament, 
and had attained so distinct and fundamental a knowledge 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 221 

of the essential features of Christianity, founded upon the 
declarations of Christ and the apostles, which he quoted 
with facility, that his teacher found little to add to it. He 
only illustrated some truths more clearly, reduced them 
to order and systematic arrangement in his mind, removed 
some apparent difficulties, supplied some deficiencies, and 
made him acquainted with the Old Testament and the his- 
tory of the christian church and reformation, of which An- 
tonio had been yet ignorant. After the lapse of eight 
weeks he declared Antonio sufficiently instructed and quali- 
fied to be received into the communion of the church. 

The day on which this was to take place, had already 
been appointed, when the change of climate manifested its 
influence on Antonio's health. A cold brought on a fever, 
which soon assumed a serious character, and endangered 
his life. The whole family felt the deepest anxiety in his 
behalf, and Henry particulary repaid the fidelity of his ser- 
vant with the closest attention to his wants. He was con- 
tinually at his bed side, and nursed him as he would a friend. 
But nothing could check the rage of the disease, which had 
now assumed a nervous type. Antonio himself knew his 
own condition well ; he was certain of dying and prepared 
for his end. 

''Dearest sir, I am dying! " he feebly said during one of 
his worst nights, whilst Henry was watching at his bed. "I 
am dying, but willingly and in peace. For what great thing 
have I to expect in this world. Only one thing grieves me, 
that I did not before my death publicly profess the gospel, 
and render that honor to the word of my Saviour before 
men, which is his due." 

Henry. — Be comforted, Antonio ; God will yet grant you 
life, to carry out your resolution. 

Antonio. — Be it so or not ; the will of God be done ! 
Ah ! I thank him most fervently, that he honored me so 
highly, as to bring me to a knowledge of the truth ! What 
a miserable man would I not have been on my dying bed 
at an earlier day ! Then I would have trembled in view of 
19* 



222 "EJTR r AND ANTONIO, 

purgatory. I would have tormented myself with painful 
confessions, I would have been perplexed about the power 
of priestly absolution, and felt myself separated from God 
through the mediation of the priest. O how happy am I, 
that I know my soul is not in the hands of the priest, and 
that it needs not the intercession of the saints, but is in the 
hands of God my Saviour! I have done, according to my 
ability at least, what the word of God enjoined upon me, 
and I am certain, that I shall enter into life, depending only 
on the all sufficient merits of Jesus Christ, my God and Sa- 
viour, whose "blood cleanseth from all sin." 

Henry. — Cling to that consoling conviction, Antonio. 
Antonio. — I will — I will — I am certain I will! God grant 
me grace to persevere to the end ! But — (extending his 
hand,) — hear the dying request of a sincere heart ! — Do you 
also again honor the word of God before the world ! 

Henry. — Antonio, if I do the will of God, as you have 
done, am I not then a good christian, and can I not be as 
happy as you are, whatever church I belong to ? 

Antonio. — But it is the will of God that you abandon 
error, and publicly honor the truth. Such a confession be- 
fore the world the Saviour demands. "Let your light shine 
before men, (said he, Matt. v. 16,) that others seeing your 
good works may glorify your father which is in heaven." 
But particularly hear his earnest language, (Matt, x.32, 33,) 
"Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him 
will I confess also before my father, which is in heaven. 
But whOvSoever shall deny me before men, him will I also 
deny before my father which is in heaven." O then go still 
farther and confess Jesus, and not his pretended vice-gerent, 
his gospel, and not the edicts of priestly councils, the ne- 
cessity of filial obedience to God, in order to be saved, and 
not the necessity of obedience to priests ; the need of the 
grace and mercy of God through Jesus Christ, and not the 
need of the absolution of men. 

Henry. — You move my heart, Antonio I Yes, I will de- 
termine ! I will lay aside that shame which has hitherto 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 223 

held me back ! I will follow you, dear friend, so that at last 
I also may meet death with the same composure and joyful 
anticipation of a blessed eternity 1 

Antonio. — God bless you in that resolution ! Thus you 
do right! Thus you are more faithful and honest than those 
Pharisees, who, though they believed in Christ, yet did not 
confess him from the fear of men, because they, as the 
Evangelist reproachfully adds, (John xii. 43,) "loved the 
praise of men, more than the praise of God." Thus you are 
a worthy disciple of the apostles, who in the midst of all 
persecution acknowledged the truth, and cried out, (Acts v* 
29,) "We ought to obey God rather than men." Ah ! how 
utterly vain and worthless is the judgment of men when we 
are near the judgment seat of God ! But we are exposed to 
it also in the days of our health, and know not how soon 
we may be called. 

The sick man was silent ; — he seemed to have sank into 
a deep slumber. But as Henry approached nearer, he saw 
his face covered with the paleness of death. No respira- 
tion — no pulse was longer observable. Henry was power- 
fully affected, and in silence vowed to fulfil the last word of 
admonition of his departing friend. But he hastened after 
help, if help was any longer necessary. The physician wa& 
soon at the bed side of the patient ; the body was placed 
in a warm bath. — All in vain ! It was again laid in bed, 
and they were convinced, that the last spark of life had ex- 
pired. But still he only slumbered. The deep swoon of 
the sick man was the crisis of his restoration. The win- 
dows were opened and the entrance of the fresh breeze 
awakened the faint spark of life anew. The father observ- 
ed, as after some time he visited the presumed dead man, 
that his pulse had changed. He examined the body, and 
it appeared to him to grow warm. The physician being 
again called in, applied anew all the means of his art. After 
some hours the patient was restored to his senses, and soon 
after to his speech. 



224 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

J 

He was saved, and in a kw weeks was again perfectly 
restored. 

His gratitude to Henry and his parents was unbounded. 
Before this he had been attached to them tenderly, but now 
his heart was fettered to them. Henry's parents also loved 
the stranger ; they also felt deeply obligated to him when 
they heard, how much the young man had contributed to 
induce Henry to retrace his steps and thus remove a burden 
of anxiety from his parents. Just as the father was consult- 
ing with his wife on the most proper course to be pursued 
with respect to Antonio, and procuring useful employment 
for him, he himself approached the father and requested 
advice as to his future pursuits in Germany. The father 
examined the acquirements of the young man, which were 
not very extensive. He spoke and wrote German and Ital- 
ian, he had a little knowledge of Geography, Natural His- 
tory, Arithmetic and French. As he wrote a very beautiful 
hand, which without instruction he learned by his own prac- 
tice, and what was the principal thing, had good natural 
abilities and a disposition to improve, the father resolved to 
employ him in his own counting room as assistant clerk, 
allowing him at first a small salary with the promise of in- 
creasing it as Antonio became more expert in business and 
useful to the establishment. 

No one was more happy than Antonio. His most fervent 
wish was to remain in the family of these benevolent persons, 
in whom he seemed to have found his second parents. He 
could scarcely wait until the time when h^ was to enter 
upon his new office. Every hour he was not employed in 
the store, he devoted to the improvement of his mind, 
and thus daily became more useful to his patron. 

It was a peculiarly happy day for him and the whole fam- 
ily, on which he with Henry was received into the bosom 
of the Evangelical church. In order to avoid observation 
and gratifying idle curiosity, their reception or the confir- 
mation did not take place publicly before the congregation, 
but in a church used for week day services, which was little 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 0.>5 

frequented^ but on the next Lord's day, both publicly cele- 
brated the Lord's supper with the other members of the 
family. Henry had resumed liis philological studies, against 
which all his predjudices had vanished, and prepared him- 
self for a professorship in a gymnasium. He had conceived 
a prejudice, though unfounded, against paintings which had 
been the occasion of leading him astray. 

After some time he quite incidentally took up, from among 
his papers, some letters, which he had brought with him 
from Italy, which purported to be recommendations to the 
Rev. Father N — . They were now useless and he had de- 
termined to destroy them. But the father, when he heard 
of it, was of a different opinion, and believed that they at 
least deserved to be read, that they might ascertain the good 
opinion of his Italian friends and their expectations of him 
which were now blasted by Henry's return to the Evangel- 
ical church. The curiosity of the mother and Wilhelmina 
seconded that resolution, which Henry rather reluctantly 
consented to from a secret apprehension that something un- 
pleasent might be discovered. The letters were opened, and 
they contained nothing but praise of Henry, with the request 
to promote in every possible way the worldly prosperity of 
this -'faithful son in Christ." The father wondered at their 
barren contents* He examined the letteis very closely, to see 
if nothing secret could be found; but all in vain. At length 
he observed that the space between the lines was very great^ 
and that one whole page was left blanks He expressed the 
presumption, that the paper might contain another letter 
written in sympathetic ink, the writing of which would only 
become visible, when the paper was dipped in a certain 
chemical solution. He was well acquainted with that pro- 
cess and determined on the spot to try the experiment. 

He was not deceived. When the paper was taken out 
of the solution, a writing before Invisible became distinct, 
the contents of which were not gratifying to Henry. His 
friend Rossi gave the Romish priest, to whom the letter was 
addressed, a correct description of Henry's character, par- 



226 ii::niiy and a.\to.\io, 

ticularly of his infirmities, through which he might be influ- 
enced. "Ahliough (it was said among otlier tliin;rs) lie has 
become a Catholic from conviction, yet certain dependence 
is not yet to be placed on that, because he has not yet been 
properly brought to an unconditional faith in the word of 
the church. Besides, his early principles may again be 
easily awakened, especially tlirough the influence of his 
parents, who, as I am told, are zealous Lutherans. For 
this reason, his servant has been instructed to watch him 
closely, and our excellent doctor Frederick will also know 
how to perform his duty. But yet it will be necessary to se- 
parate the young man from his parents as soon as possible. 

You will invite him to come to . You will hold out 

the most brilliant promises to him, and introduce him to the 
society of such of the faithful, as are capable of watching 
and taking care of him; if he shows any disposition to re- 
tract, you will particularly remind him of the uncharitable 
judgment he will expose himself to before the world, an 
argument which is more powerful with him, than all others. 
You will take care that a faithful sister wins his affections, 
who is instructed to declare that she can love none other 
than a Catholic; you will in a word, know how to manage 
every thing, ? o that he may be retained in the church. For 
although nothing particular is gained in him, inasmuch as 
he is a mere dauber in his art, yet the honor of the church 
demands that he be retained, and the extensive wealth of 
the father deserves that we take especial care of his heir. 
The servant, a good Catholic, who is educated in obedience 
to the church, you can easily keep to his duty by spiritual 
punishments. But whether the alarm of spiritual punish- 
ments is yet to be applied to his master you can judge of 
by circumstances, and easily ascertain from some attempts 
very carefully made." 

At the reading of this letter Henry's face changed colour, 
he blushed and grew deadly pale by turns. Shame for his 
weakness and indiornation at these deceitful instructions 
filled his heart at the same time. He found that Rossi, had 



OR THE rnOSELYTES. 227 

without his knowledge, held a correspondence about him 
and his parents; he saw with shame how little importance 
they attached to him, and how they only re-jarded him wor- 
thy of notice inasmuch as he was the heir of a considerable 
fortune. Yet this feeling of shame purged his soul of the 
last remnant of vanity, which had so long prevented him 
from fulfilling the desires of his parents, and hearing the 
voice of his own better convictions. He was glad that the 
letters were now first decyphered, after his return to the 
Evanorelical church. The father said nothing. He saw 
that this letter required no illustration for his son. The 
mother laughed at the mistake of the wily Rossi about An- 
tonio, and wished that he might learn to his shame, how 
the gospel had done more, than all his well arranged in- 
struction. Henry told his parents, how Antonio himself had 
revealed to him the instructions he had received at his last 
confession at Rome. The parents esteemed the young man 
still more highly on that account, and reposed still greater 
confidence in him. 

The real character of Dr. Frederick, now began to be de- 
veloped, from the mention made of his name in the letter, 
and it became gradually better known, as they compared 
together what they had heard of this man. It was not 
known whence he came. His manners were refined ; his 
acquirements not inconsiderable; his conduct externally 
proper. Only towards the last, several things were said of 
him, which excited supicion. As a physician he had been 
so charitable to the poor, that it was at last no subject of 
surprise that several of his patients had become Romanists. 
They were poor persons, who lived in obscurity. But it 
was more remarkable, that he attempted to convert to Ro- 
manism a distinguished lady, and the report even went so 
far as to say, that she was really converted before her death, 
and that the doctor administered extreme unction to her. 
He was applauded for persuading the few members of that 
communion in the place to establish a Romish school, but 
men wondered that he himself contributed such a conside- 



202 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

rable sum towards it, wlien it was not known whence he 
obtained it. It was also attributed to his influence that the 
few Romanists of the town, wlio before had frequently at- 
tended the evangelical church, had since his residence 
among them absented themselves altogether, and had even 
withdrawn themselves very much from the society of evan- 
gelical christians. A Romish midwife was also established 
there by his influence, and was remunerated for her servi- 
ces out of his own pocket. Henry now remembered in 
what a remarkable manner this man publicly distinguished 
him as a Catholic, and how frequently he invited him to 
travel to M . 

Taking all things together, the father concluded that Dr. 
Frederick was a proselyter, and perhaps a secret Jesuit, as 
this society now seeks in all possible ways, and in every 
disguise to insinuate itself in the favor of the people in Ro- 
mish and evangelical countries. 

I should think, said the father at last to Henry, it must 
now be very agreeable to you, my son, to be delivered from 
the power of a priesthood, which always surrounded their 
church members with a sort of secret police. On the oth- 
er hand, how worthy of the religion of the Spirit is not the 
relation of the laity to their ministers with us! Our religion 
demands voluntary obedience, and faith from conviction ! 
The truth does not need secret inspection and artifice. It 
maintains itself by its own innate power. It is only error, 
which is always in danger of annihilation from want of ar- 
gument to support it, that must be laboriously maintained 
by this police system of espionage, but which only answers 
the purpose for a limited time. I cannot understand how 
it is, that whilst secret societies are dissolved and prohibited 
in all countries, (of Europe) yet that the much more secret 
and mighty sacerdotal orders, particularly the Jesuits, are 
still not only tolerated, but highly patronized! 

Henry. — Not only in Rome, but in many other countries 
is the restoration and patronage of the priestly power re- 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 



229 



garded as the surest support of all religion, and of the Catho- 
lic church particularly, and for this reason the pope was 
prevailed upon to annul the bull of his predecessor, Cle- 
mens the 14th, (1773) which dissolved the order, and re- 
stored it again. Particularly in France they promise them- 
selves every thing from the restoration of the power of the 
priesthood. 

Father. — It was a strange piece of business indeed, that 
the former pope, who certainly was as infallible as his pre- 
decessor Clemens, recalled his solemn and maturely con- 
sidered bull of dissolution, and I wonder, how after such 
experience there can yet be a Romanist who can speak of 
the infallibility of the popes without blushing. But yet the 
history of the popes presents many stronger instances of con- 
tradictions, and still men act with respect to them, as though 
they had never occurred. But the hope, which men indulge 
from the power of the priesthood, and especially from the 
J€suits, is delusive. The more powerful the influence is, the 
more intolerable will their yoke be for our times, and the more 
certainly will they promote the cause of the evangelical 
church.* For it is the greatest folly for men in the 19th cen- 
tury to act as though they lived in the 15th, and to conduct 
themselves as though three centuries with their astonishing 
changes had not elapsed. Such unwise proceedings will 
only advance the progress of the reformation in the Romish 
church. 

Henry. — That they certainly do not believe. The Je- 
suits have also attempted to disseminate the opinion, espe- 
cially in high places, that the French revolution was the 
consequence of the dissolution of tlie Jesuits, and that the 

♦General Sebastiani, deputy of Corsica, in a speech delivered in the 
Chamber of Deputies on Feb. 26, 1827, expressed the effects which 
the new power of the priesthood had in France, '^^dlready, he said, 
youknow it! — already the apostacies (from the Romish church) are nu- 
merous — already more than 3000 persons in the vicinity of Lyons, 
have gone over to the Protestant communion ! " This was not contra- 
dicted in the chamber. The powerful and dangerous reaction against 
the hierarcy in France since the revolution of July 1830, need not be 
related here. 
20 



230 HENRY AND ANTONIO, 

priesthood ruling absolutely in the church was the strongest 
support of thrones, and the surest means of suppressing 
the constitutional fever of the populace. 

Father. — But how can they convince any man of such 
a chimerical notion, who has the least knowledge of history! 
Frederick the Great, in his writings foretold the breaking 
out of the revolution in France, and grounded it on the dis- 
ordered state of the finances, and the corruption of the 
higher classes. He could have added, the proximity of En- 
gland and her parliament, the influence ofNorth America, but 
above all the immense number of internal abuses. He who 
wishes to understand the French revolution, let him only read 
the memoirs of the times of Lewis the 14th, 15th, and 16th, 
which will afford him the deepest insight into the character 
of the court, the courtiers, and the higher classes. But as 
respects the presthood of the Romish church, ever since 
the existence of popery, the annals of all the western king- 
doms are full of narratives of the most fearful contests they 
have carried on against the princes.* Many princes main- 
tained their thrones against the priests with the greatest 
difficulty; many were really deposed by them. How could 
it be otherwise! In the evangelical church (in Europe) the 
ruler of the country is the supreme officer of the church, 
and thus through him, church and state are firmly united. 
Thus in Russia the Emperor is at the same time patriarch 
of the Greek church of his kingdom. But the Romisl^ 
priesthood is bound in perfect obedience to a foreign mon- 
arch, the king of the ecclesiastical state, and hence consti- 
tutes a state within a state. Hence the Catholic princes al- 
ways have their difficulties with their clergy, who under the 
protection of the pope, so willingly, and often with such fa- 
vorable result to themselves, oppose themselves to the prin- 
ces. They also possess this advantage over the Greek 
and evangelical clergy, that the Jesuits belonging to the 
holy priesthood, and so highly celebrated by them, have alone 

*See Appendix, No. XII. 



OR THE PROSELYTES. 231 

among all christian priests, assumed to tliemselves the right 
of regicide and rebellion ! Has all this knowledge of these 
men no effect on the minds of the people ? 

Henry. — Many persons cannot be at all affected by ex- 
perience of this kind ! 

Father. — So it would seem ! For how else could men in 
in our day believe what the enemies of our church have so 
often repeated, namely, that the religious liberty of the 
evangelical church encouraged a spirit of political revolu- 
tion ! Catholic France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, the whole 
of Catholic America has revolted since 1790, and has thus 
given proof that the Catholic priesthood cannot protect the 
government against revolution.* This priesthood rather 
took an active part in these revolutions. In France the 
Catholic priests and inferior clergy powerfully promoted 
the revolution. In Spain and Portugal they were seen 
in great numbers under the Cortes. The Spanish priests 
constituted a very strong party under the name of the 
Apostolicals, who exerted themselves to the utmost to raise 
recruits for the king, and to be serviceable to him in every 
way. If our politicians wish to have proof of the happi- 
ness of a country in which the Romish priesthood exerts 
much influence, they need only look at Spain ! The peace 
and quiet of the evangelical countries during this whole 
stormy period, should convince every one of the political 
harmlessness of the evangelical church. If you wish to 
read something solid and conclusive on this subject, then 
peruse the admirable book of Dr. Tzschirner of Leipzig: 
"Protestantism and Catholicism, considered in the light of 
Politics." (Leipzig 1S22, second edition.) 

Henry. — You know dear father, that the political system 
most prevalent now, is to uphold that which is old and long 
established, and to oppose innovation ; the reformation is 
regarded as an innovation, and the Romish church as that 
which is stationary or an old established institution, and 
hence the latter is supported. 

•More recently France again, Belg;ium. P'''''>nd, and Italy itself. 



232 henhy and antonio, 

Father. — Strange confusion of ideas! Which is the 
more ancient, the gospel or popery? When the reformation 
began three hundred years ago, popery was abandoned as 
an innovation, and men returned to the gospel, as that 
which was ancient and long established. And are not three 
hundred years, during which the evangelical church has 
existed, a period long enough to entitle her to be ranked 
amongst those things that are of ancient establishment? If 
this time is too short to entitle any thing to that distinction, 
then the present political condition of things cannot be jus- 
tified, and every thing would have to return to the same state 
in which it was before the reformation. At that time there were 
no standing armies, no sovereignty or confederation of Ger- 
man princes, no absolute monarch, no permanent taxes, and 
the boundaries of the countries were different from what they 
are at present. But any man would be with propriety re- 
garded as insane, who would wish to brir^g back the old or- 
der of things. The old state of things in politics only re- 
fers to the times preceding^ the great revolution. It should 
be so with respect to the church, and hence the evangelical 
church which has existed for three hundred years,, should also 
be reckoned among the old established institutions. 

Mother. — If only the evangelical subjects of Catholic 
princes do not suffer themselves to be persuaded to any 
thing like rebellion ! If they did that, with some appear- 
ance of truth, they could say, that we were bad subjects. 

Father. — You need be under no apprehension about 
that, dear wife. The members of the Evangelical church 
in Austria, Hungary, Transylvania, Russia, Bavaria and 
Saxony, have always proved themselves good subjects,, and 
they will continue to be so, unless severe oppression rouses 
them. But the governments are too wise, too just, too 
christian, ever to surrender themselves to the blind zeal of 
the priesthood. I believe, that no people will ever rise 
against their rulers, if they are governed justly and mildly. 
Thus also, the Romanists under rulers who were not Ro- 
mish, as in Russia,. Silesia, lately in Prussia, Wirtemberg^ 



OK THE PROSELYTES. C>33 

Bavaria and Holland, have proved themselves good subjects 
even if their priests did not always set them a good exam- 
ple. 

Mother. — But is it not to be hoped, that finally the 
members of the Evangelical and Catholic churches will unite 
themselves into one communion? 

Father. — That hope is as yet chimerical. If a union is 
ever to take place, the Romish church must separate herself 
from the pope, must restore the bible to its proper place, 
abandon the infallibility of the priesthood and the edicts of 
the council of Trent, especially discontinue the unchristian 
condemnation of all who are not Romanists, and thus form 
within herself an Evangelical Catholic church. This, I 
think, may be hoped; yea, from many appearences I would 
conclude, that there is already such a church, though invisi- 
ble, among the Romanists, which will gradually be more 
fully developed and manifested to the world. The reforma- 
tion of the Romish church must come from herself. Then 
they will consign to oblivion their decrees of the council of 
Trent, and their Romish catechism, and the Evanofelical 
church will lay aside her symbolical books. They will sub- 
stitute in their place the gospel, and learn from that to love 
each other as brethren, and to endure difference of views 
on non-essential points, without condemning each other 
as heretics. Then there will be true peace, and the prophe- 
cy of Jeremiah will be fulfilled (ch. xxxi. 34.) ''And they 
shall teach no more every man his brother, saying, know 
the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least of 
them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord." 
Mother. — But will this ever take place ? 
Father. — Certainly ; but we will not live to see it. But 
in the mean time, let us honestly do what may contribute 
to bring about this desirable state of peace. 

Henry. — And above all, let the Evangelical church set 
a good example, and not wage an everlasting war against 
the Catholic church in writings and conversation. For 
what else will result from this, but hatred and alienation^ 
which will only separate them still farther } 
20* 



231 HEINRY AND ANTONIO, 

Father. — My son, it is our duty also to love our Romish 
fellow citizens and to do them good. But duty does not 
command us to love their errors, to consider their abuses 
as right; that would be ''man pleasing and eye service." 

Henry. — But would it not follow from our principles of 
freedom of conscience, to let the Catholic enjoy his faith 
and not contend against him? 

Father. — You are wrong. By freedom of conscience 
we mean, that no one is to be punished by the civil or spir- 
itual authority for religious opinions, as the priests do who 
punish heretics as criminals; and further that every one 
have permission to express his religious sentiments, and 
publicly to state his reasons, but this the Romish priesthood 
forbids. We members of the Evano-elical church of course 
do not give up the latter privilege for ourselves in granting 
it to others, but lay an equal, claim to it. If we allow the 
Romanist publicly to confess and defend his faith, it would 
be ridiculous, if we considered ourselves bound to maintain 
silence towards him. Jesus was not silent about the errors 
of the pharisees and scribes. 

Henry. — There you are right. The Catholics have no 
reason to take it so hard of the members of the Evangelical 
church, that they express their opinions, and they should 
not feel insulted and wronged, when they are opposed. 

Father. — The Romish priesthood would certainly be 
pleased to say every thing themselves. But really they can- 
not complain, if we regard them always as enemies, and 
prove to them the strength of our well tempered weapons. 
For since the reformation, they have waged a continual 
war against us. The pope has from the beginning repeat- 
edly, and then again at the council of Trent, condemned all 
Evangelical christians as heretics: he has never revoked 
this sentence of condemnation, and never acknowledged us 
as a church. On the other hand, at the peace of Westpha- 
lia (1648) and at the congress of Vienna, he repeatedly pro- 
tested against the existence of the Evangelical church, and 
at the last Romish jubilee, he enjoined it as a duty on all 



OR THE PROSELYTES. O35 

Catholics, not only to pray for the illumination of the erring, 
but also '-'for the extirpation of heresy.^' Here are in truth 
all the conditions of the most perfect warfare, and nothing 
is wanting but political power to effect the charitable desire 
of Rome in the extermination of all heretics. Whilst then, 
Evangelical christians are continually declared by Rome to 
be a rebellious mob of heretics not to be endured, but ex- 
terminated ; whilst the priests of this church continue to 
persecute us with the shameful accusations, as though we 
were nothing but revolutionists, who aimed at the destruc- 
tion of Christianity ; shall we be silent, lay our finger on 
our mouths, and conduct ourselves as though we had a bad 
cause, which could not be defended? Yes, I know well 
that there are Evangelical christians, who either from weak- 
ness, or hood winked ignorance, or indifference to all truth, 
yield to all the presumption and arrogance of the Romish 
priesthood, make them the most obsequious salutations, 
speak of truth and error only in equivocal terms, for the 
purpose of winning the favour of these priests, by whom 
after all they are only despised. This is not confessing the 
Lord and his gospel before men ; this is not seeking the hon- 
or of God rather than that of men. No ! the truth demands 
that those who know it, should boldly confess it, and defend 
it against calumny. Christian love also demands that for 
our erring brethren. To maintain, to teach, to confess, to 
defend the truth, — let these be the distinguishing marks and 
symbols of genuine christians. But let it be only the evan- 
gelical doctrine, which we confess and defend. We will 
not be called Lutheran, or Zwinglian, or Calyinistic, but 
evangelical, so that when we invite the Romanist to hear 
the gospel, it may not appear, as though he were to go to 
Luther, Zwingli or Calvin. He will not go to them ; but to 
Jesus and the apostles — I confidently hope ! — to them will 
he go ; them will he hear. Hen ce let us remain unwaver- 
ingly with these ! 

Henry. — (Extending his hand) Thus let it be, dear fa- 
ther ! and nothing in the world shall turn aside your son 
from this straight path ! 



236 HENRY AND ANTONIO. 

I\ther. — Then you are again wholly mine! — come to 
my heart, my dearest son ! 

Mother. — God be thanked for this blessed day ! 

WiLHELMiNA. — Hcnry, how happy you have made your 
parents ! 

Henry. — I myself am the happiest of all ! Now again 
is my heart at peace ; for only in the truth is lasting peace 
to be found. 



APPENDIX. 



It will be expected of me to explain my object in appending the 
following extracts from the fathers of the church, that is, of the 
most distinguished teachers of the church of the first four centu- 
ries. The testimony of these ancient teachers is not intended to 
prove the evangelical system of doctrine ; for the gospel does not 
need such evidence, for upon its truth rests the truth of the church 
and of the doctrines promulgated by her teachers. Neither is it in- 
tended to prove that the doctrines of the first four centuries, were 
those contained in the gospel, or that they agreed with the gospel. 
For this in reality was not the fact. But these men lived and taught 
in an age, when, though there was a Roman bishop, yet there was 
no pope, when the church had as yet a quite different external or- 
ganization from the present Romish-papal church, and when no- 
thing was known of so many doctrines and customs, which in sub- 
sequent ages were established as essential. These extracts are in- 
tended to show the extent of the influence which the gospel exert- 
ed, and of the estimation in which it was held in the early ages — to 
exhibit the groundlessness of the pretension, that the church, from 
the beginning, taught what the popes and the council of Trent es- 
tablished as truth at a later day, and to prove how far in many re- 
spects the Romish church has departed from the church of the first 
four centuries. 

The following brief notices of the men, whose testimony is heie 
introduced, are intended for those readers who are unacquainted 
with ecclesiastical history. 

Clemens of Rome, perhaps a disciple of the apostle Peter, and 
afterterwards bishop of the christian congregation at Rome. He is 
said to have died at the beginning of the second century. Hermas^ 



238 



APPENDIX. 



a disciple of the apostles, >vljom Paul mentions in the epistle to the 
Romans, (ch. xvi. 14) and from whom we yet have a book under 
the title of The Shepherd, but which many ascribe to a later 
Hernias, who lived about the year 140. Papias, bishop of Hier- 
apolis in Phrygia, who lived near the times of the apostle John. 
Hegesippus wrote a church history in the second half of the se- 
cond century, of which there are yet several fragments extant. 
Irenaeus, of Asia Minor, after he had heard the cotemporaries of 
the apostles, went to Lyons, in France, became a bishop there in 
177, and died in 202. 

Clemens, to distinguish him from Clemens of Rome, called the 
Alexandrian, was presbyter of the church in Alexandria, and 
teacher of the celebrated catechetical school there ; was well ac- 
quainted with the Greek philosophy — died about the year 220. His 
most distinguished successor was Origeiv, born in 185 at Alexan- 
dria, died at Tyre in 254 — at the same time presbyter of the church 
at Alexandria, principal of the above named school, and one of the 
most prolific writers of the fathers. 

Tertullian lived at the end of the second, and beginning of the 
third century — was presbyter at Carthage in Africa, and one of the 
most important writers of the early church. In the latter year of 
his life he embraced the opinions of the Montanists. Cyprian 
was bishop of Carthage in 248 or 249, and died a martyr in 225. 

Arivobius, teacher of eloquence in Sicca in Africa, lived at the 
beginning of the fourth century. 

Lactantius, born in Africa, at first was teacher of eloquence 
in Nicodemir thence was called to France as preceptor of the son 
of Constan' .e in 317, where he probably died. 

EusEBiLS was bishop of Caesarea about the year 314, and was 
the author of the first history of the christian church, which has 
come down to our times. The so called Constitutions of the Apos- 
tles are directions about the organization of the church, the wor- 
ship, the life of christians, &c. which are said to have been compos- 
ed by the apostles. But they are of a more recent date, and uncer- 
tain age, but containing much that is old of the second and third cen- 
turies, besides some things new. 



APPENDIX. 



239 



TESTIMONY OF THE FATHERS OF THE FIRST 
FOUR CENTURIES. 

I. 

ON PRIESTLY ABSOLUTION. 

Clemens of Rome, knew nothing of a priestly power, which was 
capable of opening and closing the gates of heaven. But in his se- 
cond epistle to the Corinthians, chap. iv. 6, he earnestly insists upon 
the conviction that those only will be saved who persevere in the re- 
formation promised at baptism, and at the end of chap. 6, adds, "if 
we do not preserve baptism pure and unadulterated, upon what else 
will we trust, that we may come into the kingdom of God.'' or who 
could be our advocate (^napuKMros') if we had not performed holy 
and religious actions." 

Origen, in his homilies on Leviticus, Homil. 12, sec. 6, says, "If 
any of us christians commits sin, he is rejected, (by Christ) even if 
he should not be rejected by the bishop, the bishop may not know 
the transgressor's faults, or may occasionally judge by favor ; the 
sinner, however, is cast out on account of his sins. Neither will the 
favor of men be of any service, for Christ will not take up such a 
soul into his communion; it is rejected." Homil. 14, sec. 3 : "On 
the other hand, it may happen that a person is cast out by an un- 
righteous sentence of the principal officers of the church. But if 
he did not before himself go out, that is, if he did nothing, for 
which he deserved to be cast out, it will be of no injury to him 
(with Christ,) though he has been excommunicated through the 
unjust sentence of men. And thus it happens, that sometimes, he 
that is cast out (by Christ) remains in the church, and he whom 
men seem to retain in the church, is really out of it." 

Tertulliaiv, (On shame, ch. 21,) expresses himself strongly 
against it, that the priest should have power to forgive sins of un- 
chastity, which he regards as enormous transgressions, such as God 
alone can pardon. The bishop can only forgive minor faults ; the 
greater, God alone can remit. He says, "produce an apostolical 
or prophetical example that imputes to you the power of forgiving 
such sins. As you are only entrusted with the business of exer- 
cising discipline, and do not wield power, but are a servant, how 
can you arrogate to yourself to forgive sins.'' Whence will you as- 



240 



APPENDIX. 



cribe this right to the church ? Perhaps, because the Lord said to 
Peter (Matt, xvi.) "upon this rock will I build my church/' or, 
"whatever you loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven, and what- 
soever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven? " If you pre- 
sume that on this ground the power of loosing and binding has 
come to you, then you dare to change and frustrate the object of 
the Lord, who spoke this to Peter for his own person. For Jesus 
says, I will give to thee, and not, I will give to the church the 
keys ; and, whatsoever you bind and loose, not, what they, (the 
bishops,) bind or loose : — *'The church is the spirit which operates 
in the spiritual man ; but the bishops are not the church. To the 
Master belong the right and the decision, not to the servant j to 
God and not to the priest.'' 

Cyprian in his book On the Lapsed, says, "let no one deceive, 
no one delude you. The Lord alone can exercise mercy. He 
alone can release from sins, which have been committed against 
him who bore our sins, whom God gave as a ransom for our sins. 
3Ian cannot be greater than God, and the servant cannot forgive 
what has been committed against his master, so that it may not be 
added to the guilt of the lapsed, that he did not know the declara- 
tion of Jeremiah, (ch. xvii. 5.) "Cursed be the man who trusteth 
in man." 

II. 

WHAT IS DEMANDED OF US IN ORDER TO BE SAVED. 

Hermas in his Shepherd, 2. B. ch. 7, says, "Fear God and you 
shall live ; All who fear him and keep his commandments, have 
their life in the Lord ; they who do not obey him, have not life." 

Irenaeus against the Heretics, 4. B, ch. xv. sec. 1, says, "God 
first admonished men by the natural commandments which he from 
the beginning implanted in men, that is, by the ten commandments. 
ffe that does not observe these, will not be saved." 

Cyprian on the Lord's Prayer, says, "Since the word, our Lord 
Jesus Christ, has come for all, and has given the commandments 
of salvation to the learned and unlearned, to each sex, and every 
age, he embraces his commandments in a very short expression, so 
that they, who were learning the heavenly doctrine, might easily 
impress it on their memory, and soon learn what is necessary to 
simple faith. As he wished to teach, on what the attainment of sal- 
vation depended, he comprehended the mystery of salvation in the 



APPENDIX. <J4 1 

short, divine words, (John xvii. 3.) "This is eternal life, that they 
might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou 
hast sent," For this reason, as he wished to select the first and 
most important commandments out of the law and the prophets, he 
said; "Hear, O Israel ! the Lord thy God is one God; and thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, 
&c. &c.» 

III. 

THAT IT IS NOT ESSENTIAL TO THE TRUTH, WHETHER IT BE OLD 

OR NEW. 

Tertullian, on the Veiling of Virgins, says, (ch. i.) "Our Lord 
Jesus Christ called himself the truth, not a derivation. Thus as 
Christ is eternal, and older than all ; so is also the truth an eternal 
and old thing. Heresies are recognized as such by the truth, and 
not by their novelty. Whatever opposes the truth is heresy, even if 
it be of ancient origin. 

Again, (ch. xvi.) "I defend my opinion by the scriptures, na- 
ture, and the moral feeling. The scriptures are God's, nature is 
God's, the moral feeling is God's. Tfhat is opposed to these, is not 
divine. If the scriptures are uncertain, nature is distinct; is na- 
ture doubtful, the moral feeling shows what is pleasing to God." 

Arnobius, (against the Heathen, in B. 2.) says, "Our subject 
which we treat (religion) is new ; but it will once become old ; 
yours is old, but when it began, it was also new and uncommon. 
The validity of a religion is not to be estimated according to its an- 
tiquity, but according to its deity, (numine,) and men must look 
to what they worship, not to when they began to worship." 

Lactanctius, (Instruction in Divine Things, B. 2, ch. 8.) says, 
"As striving after truth is natural to all men, they withdraw them- 
selves even from the love of wisdom, who without exercising their 
own judgment, sanction the caprices of their ancestors, and suffer 
themselves to be led by others, like irrational brutes. What pre- 
vents us from following the example of our (heathen) ancestors, 
but that, as they delivered to their successors the error discovered 
by them, we deliver to our successors the truth discovered by us, 
as that which is much better.^" 

Cyprian in his 31st Epistle, says, "Some, who must grant us our 
principles, in vain oppose to us the origin of our system ; just as if 
the origin of a thing, was of more importance than the truth, or 
that in spiritual things it was not right to follow that which is best 
21 



242 APPENDIX. 

which the Holy Ghost reveals. And in Epis. 74. "The orig:in of 
the truth cannot prevent the final triumph of the truth. For a 
source which is not true, is an old error." 

IV. 

The Emperor Constantine the Great, wrote (about the year 314,) 
to his governor in Africa on the subject of a controversy which had 
arisen about the bishop Caecilian in Carthage, (see the council of 
Mansi, vol. II. p. 463,) and said, "In order to decide the contro- 
versy, I had commanded, that Caecilian, as well as several of his 
opponents should personally appear in Rome. I had also ordered 
that several bishops from Gaul should come to my city nf JRome, 
(ad urbem nostram Romam,) that they, and also the bishop of the 
eity of Rome, should bring this matter to a decision. They 
have made known to me every thing which was done in their pre- 
sence, and have exhibited to me their proceedings, with the assu- 
rance, that they judged according to the equity of the case," &c. 
The same emperor wrote on the same subject to bishop Chrestus 
in Syracuse, (see Mansi, p. 466,) and said; "In order to end the 
controversy, I had commanded that several bishops from Gaul, and 
at the same time the opponents from Africa, should come to Rome, 
so that, at the same time in presence of the bishop of Rome, (prae- 
sente insuper Romano episcopo,) every thing which had been agi- 
tated, might by a close examination be settled in the presence of 
all," &c. (Constantine the Great called together not only the coun- 
cil of Aries, but also one at Rome on account of the Donatists, 
and then the first General Council at Nice in 325. He always con- 
ducted himself as lord of the bishops and of the bishop of Rome.) 

V. 

THE ROMAN BTSnOPS WERE ON AN EQUALITY WITH OTHER BISHOPS 
WHO ALSO BORE THE TITLE, "PAPA " 

In the "Apostolical Constitutions" in B. 7, ch. 46, the bishops 
whom the apostles ordained are mentioned by name, and there 
stand the two first bishops of Rome, Linus and Clemens, without 
any distinction among the bishops of other places. In B. 8, ch. 
10, it is enjoined; "The christians must pray for the whole holy 
apostolic church; for all bishops ; for James, (bishop of Jerusa- 
lem,) for Clemens, (bishop of Rome,) for Exodius, &c. &c. in 



APPENDIX. 243 

which the bishop of Rome stands in the series and is placed after 
the bishop of Jerusalem. 

The bishops at the council of Aries, (in 314) gave the Roman 
bishop, who was not present, notice of their decisions in a letter, 
(Mansi, vol. II. p. 469,) in which they say, "Faithfully adhering 
to the common bond of brotherly love, and the unity of the mother, 
the imperial church, we, assembled in the city of Aries at the com- 
mand of the £Jmperor, SA\ute you, illustrious father, (papa) with 
proper reverence. For it seemed good (placuit) to us, that from 
thee and by thee, wlio hast a larger diocese, all should be notified 
(of our decisions.") 

Particularly important are the letters of Cyprtan, bishop of 
Carthage, and his correspondence with the Roman bishops. The 
Roman bishop gives Cyprian the title of papa, (in 30th and 31st 
letters,) and in a letter to Cyprian, (2d letter) says, "We have 
heard that the blessed papa (pope) Cyprian was dead." Cyprian 
in his letter to the bishop of Rome, not only calls him his colleague, 
(letters 3, 52,) but throughout treats him as a colleague, and never 
as a superior. The most important of his correspondence with 
Rome, the authenticity of Avhich is not doubted, is the following. 
In letter 29th, he writes to the bishop of Rome, thus : "The mu- 
tual affection which our relation demands, as well as my disposition, 
not to keep any thing from you, what I undertake, so that we may 
agree in our decisions, respecting that which is of benefit to the 
church, &c." The Roman bishop answers thus, (let. 13,) "You 
have conducted yourself as is your custom, in communicating unto 
us a matter, which occasions anxiety. It is the duty of us all, to 
take care of the body of the whole church, whose members are 
scattered through so many different provinces." He again writes 
to Cyprian, (let. 31,) "Although an honest mind is satisfied with 
the approbation of God, and neither seeks the praise of others, nor 
fears their blame, yet those are worthy of double praise, who, 
whilst they know, that they are accountable only to the judgment of 
God, yet wish to see their actions also sanctioned by their brethren. 
That you do this, dear brother Cyprian, is not to be wondered at, 
inasmuch as you with your natural modesty and circumspection 
wish to have us not so much judges, but rather partakers of your 
decisions, so that we by sanctioning your actions gain praise, and 
can become heirs of your good counsels, because we follow them. 
For men will consider that as our mutual work, in which we will 
be found united in harmony of opinion and discipline." Cyprian 



244 APPENDIX. 

(in let. 52) after mentioning that he had called a council of African 
bishops, to settle a controversy about the lapsed, continues; "Lest 
the number of African bishops might not appear suflicient, I have 
also written to my colleague, Cornelius (bishop of Rome,) on this 
subject, Avho with several fellow bishops at a meeting held by them 
expressed the same opinion with us." ]n requesting the Roman 
bishop Stephen to adopt the decision of the African bishops on the 
baptism of heretics, lie writes to him, (let. 72,) "These things I 
have communicated to you, dear brother, partly because of our 
common office, and partly because of sincere love, for I believe that 
to you, according to the truth of your piety and faith, that will be 
agreeable, which is as pious as it is true. Moreover, as I know, 
that many persevere in their opinion, and without at all loosing 
the bond of peace and unity among colleagues, desire to cling to 
the custom of their churches, I will force no one in this matter, or 
prescribe any thing, inasmuch as every bishop dare preserve his oion 
judgment in administering the affairs of his church, for he must 
give an account to the Lord for his actions." 

At the council of Carthage, (in 256,) where the bishops of the 
provinces of Africa, Numidia and Mauritania, were assembled; 
Cyprian, who presided over the assembly said ; that he Avould not 
force his opinions on any one, and added : "for no one of us makes 
himself a bishop of bishops, or by any tyranny constrains his col- 
leagues to a forced obedience, as every bishop according to his 
liberty and poAver is free to his own resolution, and is as little bound 
to follow the directions of others, as he is authorized to give them 
to others. We rather all expect the decision of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, who alone has the power of delivering to us the government 
of the church, and to judge our actions." 

VI. 

ON MATT. XVI. IS.— JOHN XX. 23. 

Origen (Comm. on Matt. Tim. XIL 10. F.) makes the followmg 
observations on the words ^'TTiouart Peter," ^-c. "Every disciple 
of Christ is a rock, and upon such a rock the whole ecclesiastical 
doctrine, and that which belongs to it, are built. But if 3'ou would 
believe that the whole church of God is built on Peter alone, what 
would you say of John and the other apostles? Or would any one 
dare to maintain that the gates of hell could prevail only not against 
Peter, but are stronger than all the other apostles and the pious? 



APPENDIX. 246 

Are not the words; "the ^tes of hell shall not prevail against it," 
addressed to all and to each ? Just as the words, "upon this rock 
will I build my church ?" Were the keys of the kingdom of heav- 
en given to Peter alone, so that none of the other apostles received 
them? But if the words, "I will give to you the keys of the king- 
dom of heaven," refer to all, (Malt, xviii. 18.) why not also the pre- 
ceding, which seems to be addressed to Peter alone ?" (He maintains, 
that every one who has the same disposition and character of Peter, 
is a spiritual Peter, and that the words of Christ are applicable also 
to him.) 

Tertullian. — See the remarkable passage under No. 1. 

Cyprian refers the words "thou art Peter" &c. to the institution 
of the episcopal dignity generally, and says in Letter 27; "Our 
Lord in founding the episcopal office and order in his church, says 
to Peter (Matt. xvi. 18, 19.) "I say unto thee, thon art Peter, and 
upon this rock," &c. From this is dated the establishment of epis- 
copacy and the organization of the church, by means of the succes- 
sion in the coui'se of time so that the church rests upon the bishops, 
and all the business of the church is conducted by them, as supe- 
riors." In his book "On the Unity of the Church" in which he 
particularly labours to show, that the clergy subject to the bishop 
cannot be separated from him, because the episcopal office, upon 
which the church rests, is one and the same ; in that book, he also 
labors to show the unity of the episcopal office, because it began 
with one, namely Peter; for although Jesus afterwards bestowed 
the same office on all the apostles, yet it was given to Peter first, 
so that the episcopal authority began originally from a unity. The 
remarkable and often misapprehended words of Cyprian are as 
follows ; 

"The Lord says to Peter (Matt. xvi. 18, 19) I say unto thee, 
thou art Peter, and upon this rock," &c. after his resurrection,, he 
says to him (John xxi. 15, 17.) "feed my sheep." Upon him he 
builds his church, and makes it his duty, to feed his lambs. And 
although after his resurrection, he imparts the same power toallth* 
apostles, and says (John xx. 21.) "as my father hath sent me, even 
so send I you. Receive ye the Holy Ghost, whose soever sins ya 
remit, &c. yet in order to show the unity of the episcopal office he 
determined it, that the origin of this unity should begin with one. 
j^ll the other apostles were in every respect, what Peter was, par- 
taking of the same employment, the same honor, the same power ^ but 
the beginning was with one, the honor of the beginning was given 
21* 



246 APPENDIX. 

to Peter, to show that the church of Christ was one, and that the 
episcopal office was one." The words; primatus Petro datur, do 
not in this connection mean, that Peter had any authority over the 
other apostles, but only, that he wsls first nominated bishop, and the 
others at a later period. The passage from Cyprian's 71st letter 
in No. VI. proves this irrefutably. 

VII. 

Tliat Peter was not supreme among the other apostles, not only 
the passages above quoted fully show, but it appears very plain 
from other expressions of the fathers. 

Origen (Horn. Exod. Horn. ix. § 3.) compares the christian 
church to the tabernacle, and says ; "The pillars of the church are 
the teachers and servants, of whom Paul (Galat. ii. 9) says ; James, 
Cephas, (Peter) and John, who seemed to be pillars.'' But the 
heado{ the pillars is he, of whom the apostle (1 Cor. xi. 3.) says . 
*nhe head of every man is Christ.'' — Oiigen in the third Homily 
on Numbers calls the apostle Paul, the greatest of all the apostles. 

Clemens of Alexandria says, (according to EusebiusB. ii. ch. 1) 
Peter, James and John, much as they were honored of the Lord 
above others, yet did not contend among themselves about the place 
of honor after the ascension of Christ, but chose James the righteous 
as bishop of Jesusalem. 

In the "Apostolical Constitution" Peter stands in the catalogue 
of other apostles without any distinction, and they say of him (B. 
vii. ch. 7.) "our fellow apostle, Peter." 

Cyprian in Letter 71, writes, "Peter also, whom the Lord first 
chose, and upon whom he built his church, when Paul afterwards 
contended with him about circumcision, (Gal. ii. 11, &c.) did not 
assume a proud and arrogant stand, as if he had said, that he was 
first called, and the new converts and those called subsequently must 
obey him. 

VIII. 

That the primacy in the church was not given to the bishop of 
Rome, after the death of all the apostles, is plainly proved from 
some passages which Eusebius quotes in his church history from 
ancient writers : 

Hegesippus, who lived after the middle of the second history 
writes thus; (Euseb. II. 23.) "After the apostles, James, the bro- 
ther of the Lord, by all called the righteous, received the church." 



APPENDIX. 247 

Eusebius says, (Hist. iii. 20.) In the time of the Emperor Domitian 
there were yet several relatives of Jesus, grand-sons of Judas, the 
full brother of Jesus, whom Domitian summoned before him, but 
as they were inoffensive men, without wealth, they were released. 
"After their release they are said to have had the government of the 
churches, because at the same time they were witnesses and rela- 
tives of Jesus." Of the same men Eusebius says (III. 32) "they 
govern the whole church as \Yitnesses, and because they are of the 
family of the Lord." 

How could tliis have been entrusted to the relatives of the Lord, 
if Peter had been the chief of the apostles, and had given his su«-- 
premacy to the bishops of Rome, as the Romish church maintains.'' 

IX. 

NO CONSTRAINT IN MATTERS OF FAITH. 

Tertullian (to Scapula) says ; "According to human right and 
natural liberty, every man may worship, what he esteems (as di- 
vine ;) the religion of the one does not promote or hinder another. 
But it is not in accordance with religion, to force it upon men, but 
it must be rather accepted voluntarily, not by constraint." 

Lactantius (Instruction in Divine Things, B. v. ch. 20.) says; 
"There is no need of force or injustice, because religion cannot be 
forced. The business is to be done with words not with stripes, 
so that it may be voluntary. Let them (the heathen) rather apply 
the keenness of their understanding, and if they have right princi- 
ples, let them advance them. If they want to teach, we are ready 
to hear them ; if they remain silent, we will not believe in them, 
and if they rage, we will not be moved. Let them imitate us, and 
bring forward the grounds of the whole matter. 

X. 

PRIESTS ARE NOT TO BE LORDS. 

Origen in the 16 th Homil. on Genesis, says in his explanation 
of ch. xlvii. 21, &c. "Do you wish to know the difference between 
the priests of Pharaoh and the priests of God .'' Pharaoh gave land 
to his priests, but the Lord did not give to his priests land for their 
portion, but said: "I will be your portion." Numb, xviii. 20. 
Hence, consider well, all ye priests of the Lord, this difference, 
that ye may not appear to be the priests of Pharaoh rather than the 



248 



APPENDIX. 



priests of the Lord, if ye possess land and apply yourselves to earthly 
business. Pharaoh wishes, that his priests should own land, and 
be more intent on agriculture than doing good to men's souls — more 
intent on the field than on the law. But Christ commands his 
priests (Luke xiv. 33 ) "whosoever of you that forsaketh not all 
that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." In the 6th Hom. on Isaiah 
§ 1, he says : "he who is called as bishop, is called not to the do- 
minion, but to the service of the chyrch." In his commentary on 
Matthew § 61, he says: "every bishop, who does not serve his 
brethren as a servant, but as a lord or master, sins against God." 
In his commentary on Romans B. 9, ch. iii. "he who is set over 
his brethren or the church, dare not be burthened with the anx- 
iety of human cares and worldly things." 

XI. 

THE FREE USE OF THE SCRIPTURES. 

Origen (Hom. on Jeremiah iii. 6.) admonishes to the reading of 
the scriptures as the best means of moral reformation: "true re- 
formation is (that is, is occasioned by) the reading of the Old 
Testament, the consideration and imitation of the righteous, — the 
reading of the New Testament and the words of the apostles, which 
after reading, men must write on their hearts and live according to 
them, &c. &c. 

Cyprian (on the Theatre) admonishes men, instead of looking on 
the heathen exhibitions, to contemplate the great theatre of God ; 
"particularly must the believing christian always be employed 
with the holy scriptures, where he finds worthy exhibitions of faith." 

Pamphilius (the friend and contemporary of Eusebius) is praised 
by Jerome (Apol. I. against Rufin) "that he very cheerfully dis- 
tributed the holy scriptures, not only to be read, but to be kept, to 
men and women, whom he saw diligently reading." 

The Emperor Julian, who apostatized from Christianity pre- 
ferred it as a charge against Christians (according to Cyril Alexan- 
der vi. 9.) "that they allowed women and children to read tb« 
scriptures." 

XII. 

TRADITION. 

The oldest fathers certainly attached some importance to that, 
which the apostles orally taught in the first churches, because their 



APPENDIX. 049 

writings were only gradually committed to paper, and in the be- 
ginning, partly on account of the distance of the churches from 
one another, and partly on account of the high price of transcription, 
were not every where to be had. But as the writings of the evan- 
gelists and apostles were more extensively diffused and gradually 
collected together in the second century, and this collection form- 
ed itself into what we still call the New Testament, the fathers 
attached the greatest importance to these, as the most certain 
source of the knowledge of the doctrine of Christ and the ajwstles, 
and were far removed from the thought, that tradition contained 
any thing else, than what the writings of the evangelists and apos- 
tles taught. We learn from their writings, that in the course of 
time tradition not only became uncertain, and that heretics ap- 
pealed to tradition in favor of their errors, but also that the teach- 
ers of the church judged the truth of tradition by the scriptures, 
as the safest criterion. 

Papias, bishop of Hierapolis in the beginning of the second cen- 
tury, wrote five books in explanation of the expressions of Christ, 
which have been lost. But Eusebius relates, that Papias said; 
every thing that he had written down he had received from the 
oral instruction of apostolic men, for he had only asked, what John, 
Peter, Philip, Thomas, James, and Matthew, had taught. He is 
the first who bears testimony to tradition. Eusebius (Hist. HI. 
last ch.) says of Papias; "This writer also brings much more for- 
ward, which is said to have been received by him Irom oral tradi- 
tion, some very strange parables, and expressions of the redeemer, 
and some things which are but too fabulous." 

According to Irenaeus (adv. Haer. 5.) there was a controversy 
between the Roman and Asiatic churches on the continuance of 
fasts, in which the former appealed to traditions received from 
Paul and Peter, and the latter to those received from John. Ire- 
naeus attached great importance to oral tradition, yet he says, (adv. 
Haer. B. 3, ch. 1, § 1.) "We have learned the order of our salva- 
vation from none others, than those, through whom the gospel came 
to us, who at first it is true delivered it orally, but afterwards ac- 
cording to the will of God, reduced it to writing for us, so that it 
might be the ground and pillar of our faith." He then speaks of the 
compilation of our four gospels, and continues; "He who does not 
agree with these scriptures, despises the partakers of the life of 
the Lord, despises Christ, — which all heretics do. And in ch. 4, 
§ 1, he says; "If a controversy arose on a question, however un- 



250 AI'l'EiN'DIX. 

important, would we not liavc to go back to the oldest churches, in 
whicli the apostles lived, so that we might receive from them the 
truth of the matter ! Bui If the apostles had not left behind them 
writings, would we not have to follow the oral traditions which they 
gave to the churches in which they taught? " (Irenaeus here evi- 
dently prefers the scriptures to traditions.) 

Origen (2d Ilomil. on Ezek. § 2.) "Hear the heretics, how they 
maintain, tliat they have the tradition of the apostles. -But if a 
thousand persons would hold my discourses as true, and they were 
false according to one expression of God, (in the scriptures) of 
what avail would it be to me? That is the thing, after which we 
must long, that the Lord stands by me as loitness of my instruc- 
tions, that he himself establishes by testimony of the scriptures^ 
what I bri ng forth.'' 

Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, resolved with the African bishops, 
at a synod, that those christians baptized by heretical parties, if 
they should turn to the general church, must again be baptized, be- 
cause the baptism of heretics was not valid. He communicated 
these resolutions to the Roman bishop, Stephen, who did not agree 
with him, maintained the validity of heretical baptism j and referred 
to tradition for his grounds. He had expressed the principle against 
Cyprian, that no innovations must be made, unless they were sup- 
ported by tradition. In his 73d letter Cyprian expresses himself 
on that subject thus; "Whence does tradition originate? from the 
authority of the Lord and the evangelists, or from the commands 
and letters of the apostles? for God himself testifies (John i. 8.) 
that only that which is written, shall come to pass. If then either 
in the gospels, or in the letters of the apostles, or in acts of the 
apostles, it is commanded or forbidden to baptize those coming 
over from the heretical parties, but only to lay hands upon them, 
such a divine and holy tradition would have to be observed. But 
it is hardness of heart and prejudice to prefer a human tradition to 
the divine conmiand. If we go back to the head and source of the 
divine tradition, (that is, the scriptures) human error stands aside, 
and yields. If a canal abundantly flowing suddenly dries up, do 
we not go to the source, in order to find out the reason of the drying 
up? Thus must the priest do, (in this controversy) when the truth 
on a subject is uncertain and wavering, we must go back to the 
source which springs from the Lord, and to the scriptural doctrine 
of the evangelists and apostles. On the same subject Firmilian 
(letter 17.) "As respects the assertion of Stephen, that the apos- 



APPENDIX. 251 

ties orally gave the prohibition to baptize those returning from 
the heretics, you answer perfectly right, when you say, no one can 
be so foolish as to believe it. That those at Rome do not observe 
every thins;; that was originally taught, and in vain refer to the au- 
thority of the apostles, we can see from this, that on the cele- 
bration of the feast of the passover, and many other mysteries of 
religion they entertain erroneous opinions, and do not observe every 
thing in like manner, as it occurs at Jerusalem." 

XIII. 

ALL PIOUS CHRISTIANS ARE PRIESTS. 

Clemens of Alexandria (Strom, IV. 25.) says; "only those who 
live purely are the true priests of God." (Strom. V^II. 2 ) where 
he speaks of the wise and pious man, adds, "He alone is the real 
royal man ; he is the holy priest of God." 

Tertullian (Exhortation to Chastity, ch. 7.) says, "We would err 
vastly, if we believed, that what does not become a priest, can be al- 
lowed to the layman, j^re not also laymen priests? It is written 
(Rev. i. 9.) he made us kings and priests unto God, his father." 
71ie church has made the distinction between the priestly order arid 
the people. "Where three are assembled, there is a church ; even if 
they are laymen. For each one lives by his own faith. If then 
you have in yourself, where you necessarily must have it, the right 
of a priest, this priestly right must render necessary the exercise 
of priestly duties. Origen in Homil. 9, on Leviticus, § 9, says; 
All who (in baptism) have been anointed with the holy oil, are 
priests, as Peter (1. Ep. ii. 9.) said to the whole church ; ye are a 
chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy people. Every one 
of us also has his (priestly) sacrifice within himself If I bestow 
my goods upon the poor, take up my cross and follow Christ, — If 
I love my brethren, so that I lay down my life for them, if I con- 
tend for rigteousness and truth until my death ; if I mortify the 
lusts of the flesh within me ; If the world is crucified unto me, and 
I unto the world ; then I have offered a sacrifice on the altar of God, 
them I am myself the priest of my sacrifice. 

XIV. 

WITHHOLDING THE CUP. 

In the more ancient church there is not a single trace, that men 
ever made it a question whether the cup should be administered ; 



252 APPENDIX. 

the cup was every where administered. The so called "Apostolic 
Constitutions," but which are of later origin, determine the mode 
of administering tlic Lord's Supper expressly thus, (B. 8, ch. 13.) 
"The bishop shall hold out the sacrifice (the bread) and say ; the 
body of Christ ! and he who receives it, shall say, jJmen! But 
the deacon shall take the cup and extending say, the blood of Christ, 
the cup of life ! and he who drinks it shall say, Amen ! " 

The veneration of the fathers for tliis institution of Christ was 
so great, that they declared it as higlily unbecoming, that some of- 
fered not wine mixed with water, but only water in the cup. Cy- 
prian writes on this subject, (letter 63.) "You know that we are 
bound, in the administration of the cup to observe the directions of 
the Lord, and to do nothing else, but what Christ did first, that is, 
offer wine mixed with water. But that we are not at all to depart 
from the gospel directions, and that the disciples are to observe and 
to do, what the master teaches and does, Paul insists upon very ex- 
pressly. (Gal. i. 6.) As neither the apostle himself, nor an angel 
from heaven can teach differently from what Christ and the apos- 
tles have taught, it surprizes me much, that at some places (mere) 
water is offered in the cup of the Lord, against the gospel and 
apostolic institution. For if in that sacrifice offered by Christ, 
Christ alone is to be followed, we must observe and do, what Jesus 
commanded to be observed and done. For men must follow divine 
truth, not the customs of men. If according to Matt. v. 19, it is 
not allowed to destroy the least divine commandment, how much 
more is it our duty, not to break or to change out of human tradi- 
tion into any thing else than what the divine institution is, that 
which belongs to so great a mystery, having reference to the suf- 
ferings of the Lord and our redemption." 

XV. 

Cardinal Bellarmine himself counts eighteen popes who occa- 
sioned the dethronement of temporal princes. In the Glossas to 
the papal decretals, the most extravagant representations of the 
papal power are made. GJossa in cap. 2, c. 15, quaest. 6, it is said, 
"The pope can gi'ant dispensation against the gospel, the apostles 
and natural rights. The Glossa to canon 3, tit. 7, lib. 1, decret. 
Gregor IX. says, "The only reason, which is to be given for every 
thing the pope does, is, because it is his will. And who would be 
bold enough, and hazard the presumption to say unto him, why 
dost thou act thus .'' ^s he is exalted above all privilege, so he can 



APPENDIX. 253 

also grant dispensations from all ! Unrighteousness itself he can 
justify ] all imperial acts he can according to his pleasure change 
or subvert." The Glossa ad cap. 4. Extravag. Joann. XXII. de 
verbor. signific. says, "If any one is bold enough to maintain, that 
the Lord, our God, the pope, the author of these decretals, could 
not command them, he must be considered a heretic," (afterwards 
they became ashamed of the blasphemous words, "the Lord, our 
God" and omitted them ; but they are yet to be found in several 
old editions, ex. gr. those of Lyons, 1584 and 1606, and of Paris, 
1585, 1601, 1612.) Pope Gregory VII. declared the German em- 
peror as deposed, and absolved all his subjects from the oath of al- 
legiance. Pope Adrian IV. gave permission to Mary II. of Eng- 
land to conquer Ireland, under the promise that the king would 
send to Rome an annual tribute from every house. Pope Innocent 
III. absolved the English from the oath of fidelity to king John, 
and bestowed England to France, and John was obliged to purchase 
the favor of the pope with the promise of sending annually to Rome 
1000 marks, as farm rent for England and Ireland. The principle 
established by the popes, "that the pope is the only bishop of the 
christian world, and that the whole church property is his," they 
employed in such a manner as to tax all the countries of the west 
in a variety of ways. They withdrew the monasteries from the 
inspection of the bishops, and took them into their own protection 
in consideration of a large sum of money ; they now maintained, 
that they alone had the right to appoint bishops, and had large sums 
of money paid to them by the newly appointed bishops, particular- 
ly in Germany, for that honor. But they did not stop here. Pope 
John XXII. assumed for the popes the yearly revenue of every 
vacant parish. Paul II. commanded (1470) that the revenue 
of every parish in every fifteenth year must be delivered over 
to the papal treasury. Further, they claimed for themselves 
the revenue of all the parishes during their vacancy, and the right 
of inheriting the property of all deceased priests. The largest 
sums of money were procured from the sale of indulgences. Not 
satisfied with those, which were requested of them, they often 
sent bills of indulgence into different countries, particularly to Ger- 
many. Very profitable also was the year of jubilee ; it was intro- 
duced by pope Boniface VIII. in 1301, (which he founded on Lev. 
ch. XXV.) in which all pilgrims coming to Rome received perfect in- 
dulgence. It was designed to be celebrated only every 100 years, 
but was so profitable, that this time was found too long. Hence 
22 



254 APPENDIX. 

pope Clemens VI. commanded it (1350,) to be celebrated every 
fifty years ; pope Urban VI. ordered it to be also celebrated in the 
33d year of every century, (because Christ lived thirty-three years) 
but Paul II. ordered it every 25th year, to which Boniface IX. 
(1390) yet added, that the indulgence should be received, if only 
the money, which the pilgrimage to Rome would cost, was sent to 
Rome. None were more weary of these endless oppressions than 
the German princes. They did not cease to state their grievances, 
and to insist upon a removal of them ; but all in vain. They had 
to endure these oppressions, until the reformation made an end of 
them. 



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